


Man to Man

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Madam Secretary
Genre: Friendship, Fun, Gen, Platonic Connection, Support
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 70
Words: 99,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25077631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: When Blake started this job, Henry pulled him aside for a talk. As their lives moved forward, they work together to get things done.
Relationships: Elizabeth McCord/Henry McCord
Comments: 295
Kudos: 70





	1. To The Races

**Author's Note:**

> A series of stand alone fics, some tied to episodes and others entirely AU. 
> 
> I dove into Madam Secretary as a way to shake off some long-running writer's block/fatigue so I can get back to other projects. I write for the fun of it, so if something isn't to your taste or your head canon, pass on by. Otherwise, enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Intro 1

Blake waited for the front door to be opened. “Doctor McCord.” He greeted when it did.

Henry shook his hand and led him through the house toward the kitchen and table. “It’s Henry, please. Come in and sit. Make yourself at home.” He held out a cup of coffee. “I know you have to get back, but I thought we could talk.”

“Sure.” Here he was, barely a month into his new position and already was getting a pull aside.

“Elizabeth and I have had a few long talks, both before and after she took on this job. One of them, well, more than one, was her hiring you as her personal assistant.”

“Oh.” He had a sinking feeling where this was going.

“I’m not here about what you think, Blake.” He assured. “I was actually really happy what she brought up you for the job. So, this isn’t about that at all.”

“Okay.”

“The first thing is, I think you and I are going to need to be in constant communication to make this all work. I know what she was like as a professor and if this past month has been any indication… Well, we’re both going to need all the help we can get.”

“The men behind the woman?” He arched a brow.

“Something like that. I want to know that we have a clear line between you and I, any worry, any concern, we will be taking over where the other leaves off, every day. So, we both need to know what’s headed our way.”

“Okay.” Blake nodded.

“On that note, I have a few things I want to mention so you don’t worry about overstepping.”

“Oh.” He sank again.

“The first is food.”

“Food?”

“Yeah. I have a feeling one of the hardest parts of your job will be to feed her. Even if you must stand there and watch her eat, do it.” Blake nodded and then Henry continued. “I will make sure you have my most up to date class schedule at all times. Watch for her tells, when she’s stressed, that sort of thing. She tends to carry the weight of the world.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“One more thing, for now anyway, and I’m only mentioning it because she brought up a trip coming up.” He drew a deep breath. “You are my stand in at whatever she has to go to. Her date, so to speak. Don’t be shy, stay with her, dance, keep an eye out. I worry that some parts of the world will not treat her as well because she’s a woman and if I’m not there to be that guy so she’s not standing alone, I need that guy to be you.”

“But… Why me?”

Henry thought a minute. “I trust you. I see how you look at her and I know you will always respect her but look out for her. And you won’t overstep. She doesn’t need someone to speak for her, but there might be a time where she needs someone to simply be standing there so her words are taken seriously.”

Blake wasn’t sure how to respond. “I’m…”

“Look. You’re going to be her pretend boyfriend; I’m just gifting you with a crash course it took me over two decades of marriage to learn.” He chuckled when Blake balked. “It will be an affair for the ages. I’m just saying… I am trusting you with he most precious thing in my world.”

“Understood.”

Blake left later with his own copies of keys to their homes, both the one in Georgetown and the farm in Virginia, and a credit card, both of which had been handed to him after a tour of the house which had, much to Blake’s surprise, a standing invitation to the guest bedroom.

==

Henry’s words were still rattling around in Blake’s head weeks later when a building was collapsing around them in an earthquake halfway around the globe. He followed the detail agents across the floor, tripping over dishes and chairs as he maintained a singular focus on his target- putting himself directly with his boss. By the time he caught up to where the agents were bodily forcing her into a reinforced stairwell and down to safety, she was fighting against them with all she had, fear for Alison driving her need. Blake looked around for the agent hauling Jason after them, shaken but unharmed. Watching the detail try and restrain the Secretary respectfully made him realize, this was the passion Henry worried about. That she would put her own safety last. Stepping up behind her, he placed a hand on her shoulder, applying just enough pressure. “Ma’am. Let them do their jobs.” He spoke directly into her ear.

She paused and looked up at him. “Yeah.”

Once he was sure she was thinking more clearly, Blake nodded to her detail but spoke to her. “I have some water. They’ll get Alison and bring her here.”

“Yeah.” She repeated. “You’re right.”

They were required to stay in the shelter for an hour and even after Alison was reunited to them, she paced, edgy to get out and see the damage. Blake kept within arm’s reach the entire time, even as he could feel the sweat soaking his shirt. He scoured reliable sources for the damage happening outside and sent texts to Henry to assure him Elizabeth was safe, shaken and upset, but otherwise unharmed.

==

A day later, when he was following his boss off the plane, Blake’s phone rang. “Hello?”

“Blake, it’s Henry.”

“We’re just getting off the plane, Sir.” He started.

“And you both made it okay? No injuries?”

“We’re good. Detail is taking her home first; I’m headed straight to the office. I’m sure I’ll see her there.”

“I’m sure.” Blake thought Henry was about to hang up, but then herd him speak again. “Blake.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for bringing her home.”


	2. Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.1

"Blake! What do you think?"

He hurried into the inner office when she called out, halting when he got a look at what the stylist had done.

Blake had known her for years, mostly as Professor, Doctor, McCord 'not the theology one'. Professor McCord wore jeans and boots and sweaters. She always appeared warm and welcoming, even when she was dressing down a student. He'd known, through conversations after class, that she'd been CIA, but he just never could see it. 

When they arrived at the State Department, he still only saw Professor McCord, even in her suits and heels. She still had the same sweet, disarming smile he knew. 

The stylist had been a surprise, Blake had taken her details and had ushered her out. Leave it to Russell Jackson to make everything Elizabeth was going to be in this job about looks. They had no need for her, until they did.

Now, Professor McCord had been replaced by someone else entirely. Someone wearing much more makeup, hair curled to frame her face, and the red suit. He had no words for the red suit. Between the suit and the red heels, all he could see was leg.

So much leg.

"I-I…"

She smirked. "That good huh? Enough to disrupt a news cycle?"

"Yeah. Wait. What? You're going out like that?"

She walked across the room, frowning at the unfamiliar shoes. "We need to squash the Syria story. What better way to squash it the to fill the news with something else?"

The whole time she walked, he couldn't pull his eyes away. “I understand keeping Syria off the front page, but, but…this?!” He heard his voice crack on the last word. “Is this a good idea? You’re barely in the door, do you really want to set people off on your looks so soon?”

She’d turned as he’d rambled, a grin on her face. “Blake. Eyes up here.” His eyes snapped to hers and saw nothing but mirth.

He swallowed. “Can we at least send a picture to Henry first? The poor man deserves a heads-up before…” He waved. “This is splashed all over the news. Because it will be. Where are you going to walk to? Your detail is going to hate the attention.”

“I thought I’d walk to the White House. It’s a nice day.”

“That’s- that’s like a fifteen-minute walk without the reporters.”

“Oh, we need to give them a head-up too.” She sank into on of her chairs, crossing her legs, one heel lifted.

“This is insane.”

“Shut the door.” He only blinked, unhearing of the instruction. “Shut the door, Blake. You can send some pictures to Henry, but I’m not risking anyone walking in and making it weird.”

“It _is_ weird, Ma’am.”

He saw her relax and look at him. “Talk to me, Blake. You’re the only one here who doesn’t have the job of toeing the company line. What’s the problem for you?”

Pausing, he turned to shut both doors before turning back. “I know you better than they do. They all see a woman who turned up with no experience and they’re partly waiting for you to fail and move on. They’re not bothered if this hurts you.”

“And you are?”

“I know Professor McCord.” He drew a breath. “Professor McCord would jump at this with all she had, but she also would be shattered if people were hurtful.” He paused. “She’s not naïve, but she’s maybe…a bit tenderhearted. Sometimes. Human when other people have lost their humanity.” The room went quite for several minutes. It was finally Elizabeth who spoke.

“Thank you for being honest with me.”

“But you’re doing it anyway.”

“I think, hurtful or not, me walking over to the White House like this is just mundane enough to not make people look for the hidden headline. Even if it bombs, it works.”

“I understand.”

“Good. Now, something for Henry.”

==

After the dinner with the king, Blake decided maybe it was time to get to know his new coworkers. He’d spent two months as an outsider in their world, perhaps it was time to show them they were a bit of an outsider in his. Searching the halls, he found Jay and Nadine in her office. “Hey.”

“That was quite a victory tonight.” Nadine grinned. “I can’t believe she learned all their names so fast.”

He leaned against the doorway. “She used to know all her students’ names on the first day of class. Every class. Every semester. You gave her ten to learn.”

Jay looked over at him. “Well, bringing an otherwise pointless dinner around to a purpose, that went off better than I’d expected.”

“I was a bit worried he wouldn’t take it so well.” She agreed.

Blake huffed. “Just wait. Eventually she’ll look at you with that look she does, and you’ll find yourself agreeing to things you never dreamed of.”

“Like?” Nadine asked.

“Like to work in the State Department.” He smirked. “Like helping do all sorts of things you never would have expected to find yourself doing.”

Jay studied him a minute. “I think it’s past time you and I go have a drink.”


	3. Shop

“Hello.” Blake answered his phone without looking.

“Hey, it’s Henry.”

“Hey!” He turned, glancing toward the inner office. “What can I do for you?”

“How are things going on your end?”

“Fine. If you’re looking for a hole in her schedule…”

“No.” He cut him off. “I was just wanting to get your impression of how things are going. I talked to Elizabeth a minute ago, she said she was shopping during her lunch break, that usually means she’s trying to work a problem out.”

“I can confirm there has been a problem in need of working out.”

Henry chuckled. “Got it. Well, if you could find an excuse to check on my credit card from time to time?”

“Yes, Sir.” He felt himself smile. “I will do my best.”

==

Blake gave it until the end of lunch before he went in under the guise of needing signatures. Casually, he glanced at the screen. “Oh, those are nice.”

Elizabeth stilled and turned, squinting at him. “Henry called you.”

“I- He just-” He stuttered.

“Tell my husband the next time you talk to him, to do his own dirty work.”

“Ma’am?”

“He shouldn’t be putting you in the middle. Don’t let him.” She grinned. “Remember who signs your checks.”


	4. Early Start

He’d done this dozens of times, letting himself in through the back door with his key, slipping through the kitchen and then up the stairs, no need to wake anyone just yet. Well almost anyone.

The master bedroom was still dark, and he could hear light snoring drifting through the half-open door. He always felt bad about this part, but unfortunately it had to be done. He tapped on the door, listening as the snoring cut out instantly. “It’s just me, Blake.”

There was a pause, he could guess that Henry was shaking sleep away and trying to process the intrusion. “Oh.” There was shuffling and then a lamp flicked on, illuminating the room just enough. “Hey. Long night?”

“You could say that again. At this point I think I’m learning Japanese by osmosis.” Blake went straight for the closet in search of clothes for his boss. He and Henry had been here before.

“There’s a bag from the cleaners hanging in the bathroom. It has that cream shirt she likes.” Henry offered. Blake wondered if it’d ever felt as weird for Henry as it had for him, this dance they did as they worked together.

“She’s got a meeting at the White House later and then possibly a press conference after. Matt’s working on a statement for one anyway.” He offered, knowing that Henry wouldn’t ask. It wasn’t that his boss’s husband didn’t care, Blake just knew Henry was all too familiar with how often their jobs were classified. The small details felt like an olive branch.

“Go with the gray skirt then, I’ll see if I can find her shoes.” Blake heard Henry climb out of the bed and shuffle forward.

“Oh, I took those the other day, they’re still in the closet at the office.” He laid the clothes out on the now-empty bed, taking a garment bag when the older man passed it over. “Navy blazer and I think that’s it.” He scanned the room for anything else he should probably pick up.

“Wait.” Henry grabbed a smaller bag and went through a couple drawers before zipping it shut and shoving it into the bag as well. “Do I smell coffee?”

“I started the pot on my way through.” He smiled, taking the lead bustling back down to the first floor. “I rearranged her schedule today since she stayed all night. If you can make late lunch at two, you will have to eat in, but I can have something delivered. My plan is to have her out the door by seven tonight if not before.”

“Good luck on that.” There was a bit of humor in his voice as Henry poured himself coffee and gestured the carafe at Blake.

“Sure.” He found himself a mug in the cabinet and made a drink. “I am exhausted and it’s not even properly morning yet.” A hand to his head and he was rubbing one temple.

He could see that Henry wanted to ask more, but didn’t, instead opting to shift the conversation again. “If you think you have time, I’ll whip up some omelets to take back.”

“That would honestly be heavenly.” Blake dropped into a chair near the table, wondering only briefly how late Henry’d stayed up last night. “I was talking to a friend of mine a week or so ago, he was going on and on about how sad it was I left finance and such. He was talking about these parties and the bed hopping and such and I just… I feel old.”

“I thought you hated that life, that’s why you left to begin with.” There was a sizzle and a pop as food began to cook.

“Yeah, well. The day Elizabeth called me I was sitting in my car _willing_ myself to start it and go in. I can remember sitting there, head on the steering wheel begging, out loud mind you, for a sign on what to do. And then the phone rang.”

“And it was Professor McCord.”

Blake felt the corners of his lips curl slightly at the memory. “I didn’t even look at the screen, honestly. I figured it was someone at work looking to yell at me for a stock tanking.” He pulled in a deep breath and let it out. “But it was her even voice- ‘ _Hey Blake’_. I could feel her smile through the line, you know. And then she said she was offered a job and she needed me as her assistant to be able to do it. I don’t know if she told you, but I agreed before she actually told me what her job was.”

Henry’s laugh was loud in the otherwise silent kitchen. “That was either incredibly brave or stupid.”

He chuckled as well and raised his mug in mock toast. “Depends on the day.”

Once the eggs were done, Blake gathered everything to leave. “Thank you, Henry, and thank you for breakfast. Now I need to get back before morning donut delivery.”

“Go on then. Get back to work, get our girl fed. Have a good day.” The door shut and Blake was halfway back to the office before Henry’ words circled through his head. Our girl.


	5. Cry

Nadine couldn’t believe she was breaking down in front of her boss, not now, not over this. This was the kind of thing that ruined careers. She wanted nothing more than to tell Elizabeth to leave, but she also feared that, out of respect, her boss would. And she didn’t really want to be alone either.

Once the tears seemed willing to stop, she finally looked up. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Her voice was still soft.

“For making a scene. In there and in here. It was unprofessional.”

Nadine watched a sad smile flicker across her face. “Sometimes we all need to get it out, it’s part of being human. I think crying alone makes the pain worse that crying with someone, even if it’s not the someone you want it to be.” She stood and studied Nadine a moment. “Take a little time, we’ll survive without you for a bit.” She moved to the door and then stopped. “I don’t think less of you and, in this office? My opinion is the only one that matters.”

“I appreciate that Ma’am.”

“My door is always open, Nadine.” She gave her another soft smile before leaving her alone.

In the silence of her office, Nadine wondered about a woman who wouldn’t judge her for being the other woman. Experience taught her that women looked down on that harder than men.

==

“Hey, Nadine?” Nadine looked up to see Elizabeth entering her office again, looking possibly worse than she had in her own office earlier in the evening. There was no normal bounce to her walk, no rush to her movements.

“Ma’am?”

“I know it’s late; I was about to head out to tell Xinpei about her mother. They’re at the Mall. Would you come with me?”

The ask surprised her, generally she wasn’t the one who did these sorts of things with her boss. Really, it wasn’t a task that needed two people at all. “I would be honored.”

The short ride over was silent, Nadine wasn’t sure how to start and Elizabeth wasn’t seeming to be looking for a conversation as she simply stared out the window at the sky. When they climbed out, looking at the girls playing in the dark, she wasn’t looking forward to sharing the news and was relieved when Elizabeth decided to delay it a while longer. The silence was getting harder to ignore and she had to say something. “I’m sorry about before, it was unprofessional.”

She caught a moment of surprise crossing her boss’s face before she considered her response. “I was jealous, actually. A friend of mine died recently too and… I haven’t been able to cry. I started this job and I had a lot on my mind. Today I realized I could use a good cry.”

Nadine studied her profile, could see now the weight of life, of the job, hanging heavy on her shoulders. “You should have one.” The family had spotted them, but she wasn’t willing to give up this tenuous connection the day had seemed to create. She knew that if anyone normally was Elizabeth’s confidant, it was likely Blake, but this felt…different. She heard Elizabeth only make a small sound of acknowledgement before shifting gears to deal with the girl.

==

The following morning, Nadine brushed into her boss’s office, arm full of folders, and paused. “Good morning, Ma’am.”

Elizabeth paused, glancing around the room and out the windows as if seeing it all for the first time. “It is a good morning, isn’t it?”

She couldn’t help but return the smile that followed. It seemed Elizabeth had followed her suggestion. Placing the files on the desk, she hesitated, debating before taking the leap. This was her boss, she was the chief of staff, and while their relationship would never be in the realm of what she’d had with Vincent, she knew it was time to step up and start nurturing the professional relationship they should have. “My door is always open as well.”


	6. The Hardest One

“She hates me.” Matt materialized at Blake’s desk.

“It’s been three months; she barely knows you.”

“She hates what I write.”

“Matt, you spend too much time pandering and half-truthing and never saying anything.”

“That’s the job!”

“That’s not her.” He huffed. “Fine. You want my help?”

“Yes! Tell me how to make her like me.”

Blake scoffed. “Currently, I don’t like you, so that’s your first hurdle.” When Matt gave him a put-out look, he took pity on him. “Forget making nice all the time. Stick to the facts and the truth. Give her one thing of substance to say in any speech you write.”

Matt nodded. “Okay. I can do that.” He started to walk away.

“And cut it down.”

What?” He turned back.

“Want a secret?” He eyed him. “She hates getting up in front of people.”

“She was a professor.”

“Who ran her classes like we were sitting in a café, not standing in front dictating. Keep the speeches short, on and off the stage. Also, the more direct you are, the less likely she’ll go off script.”

==

Blake had listened to Matt whine about the speech the entire time they were in the receiving room, he’d finally found some refreshments to fill his mouth with to avoid telling Matt to shut up and sit down. It was nerves, he told himself, nerves on his boss’s behalf, there was a lot of pressure on this speech. It seemed to be going off without a hitch though, Matt had cut it down like he’d suggested, and it had just enough meat to it that she felt okay making his words her own.

Until the first pause. The first pause made even he pause as well. His heart dropped. He’d spent the entire morning psyching her up to do this speech, had ran Daisy and Matt out several times because they kept making it worse. A pause was bad.

Blake had faith when she started again that one misstep wasn’t a big deal. The second though, the second was a big deal. He knew what that meant, she was derailing. Of course, what came next, both on the screen and in the room as the others began to panic over her going so far off script, made him want to grin and shout ‘ _that’s the McCord I know_ ’. It was going to be a shitstorm, but sometimes that’s what the world needed. And now the whole world would be put on notice, Secretary McCord wouldn’t simply overlook crimes for diplomacy.

He blinked, glancing around the room his was in. They were all staring at him now, and he did his best to wipe the grin off his face. “For the record, I didn’t know that was coming.” Their looks of murder turned to looks of disbelief. “I have warned all of you, time and again, that you can’t expect her to be a good little politician and do as you say. She saw a problem, you all _knew_ it was a problem she was being denied permission to deal with, and then you let her walk onto a world stage.”

“She goes down, we all go down.” Daisy insisted.

“Russell Jackson’s already blowing up my phone.” Nadine sighed, pained.

“You all think I sit and look pretty all day?” Blake placed his plate aside. “This?” He waved at the TV. “This is the woman I save you from on a regular basis. Well, now you’ve met her. Thank god. Now we can all share in the responsibility of keeping up.”

==

“Ma’am. We need to talk.” Blake used the statement to announce his presence.

Elizabeth looked around as she climbed into the SUV. “How’d you get everyone else to ride separate?”

“I’m good at my job.” He cheeked. “Also, they were a little annoyed at how I responded to your speech.”

“I bet they all had some words to share about that.”

“Nadine did. She called you an incredibly challenging woman.”

“Hah!” She laughed. “That’s the nicest way I’ve heard that put. They really kick you out of the staff after party because of my speech?”

“Yes and no. They couldn’t believe I didn’t know in advance and they claimed I got too much enjoyment out of it.”

“ _I_ didn’t know in advance!”

“I knew after the second pause.”


	7. Suspicions

“You’re up, Dude. I’m sorry.” Daisy rushed past Blake’s desk.

His head shot up. “What?” He whipped around to stare at the secretary’s closed office door and then back to Daisy. “What happened?”

She frowned and then chewed her lip before moving close enough to whisper. “Look, I found Stevie in a bar, she said her dad was having an affair. Once I got her sobered up a bit, she seemed to be making sense.” She shrugged. “I figured it was better to get out in front of any news.”

Blake tried to process it all at once. “Stevie was drunk in a bar?”

“Yeah.” The frown was back.

“She’s not twenty-one yet.” He looked toward the door again. “And you told the secretary that?”

“Only after she wanted to know the source for the affair rumor.” She attempted to sound reassuring.

He spluttered. “You told her you thought Henry was having an affair?”

She huffed. “I thought she was owed not being blindsided if any suspicion ever came out in the press.” As she answered, Blake was already on his feet and moving the opposite direction. “Wait, where are you going?” She rushed to keep up with his strides.

“As you said, I’m up. I can’t believe you would drop something like that without doing basic research first.”

“What was I supposed to do, Blake?”

He turned and faced her, his hands out. “Come to me.” His jaw flexed as he drew and released a measured breath. “You jumped all over the Stevie thing before… Look. Anything about any of the McCords personally, come to me first. I can’t believe you- I can’t believe you thought Henry would cheat.” He carried on walking.

“He’s a guy with a wife who’s gone constantly, it’s not like it’s a totally crazy idea.”

He rolled his eyes and groaned in irritation. “Daisy. Stop. Just…stop. Not every person in a relationship is you and Matt.” He started the kettle for tea and then collected a mug and tea bag, leaving them to wait beside the heating water.

“Ouch.”

Opening the freezer in the breakroom, he pulled out a container in the back with his name on it and opened it, taking a carton of ice cream out. Finding a bowl, he started scooping some out before inversing the process and putting the carton away.

“You have ice cream hidden in there?”

“I have all sorts of things hidden in here.”

“I didn’t think you ate ice cream.”

“I don’t.” He didn’t spare her a glance as he collected the bowl and mug and headed out again. “According to you, I am up, so if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go see what sort of damage you’ve caused with your baseless suspicions.”

“I was going on what her daughter said.”

“Yes, the daughter whose judgement is so good that she was in a bar underage.” He headed for the inner office, juggling the dishes as he let himself in without a word and pulled the door shut, locking it for good measure. He stayed quiet as he crossed the room and placed both on the coffee table, ignoring the way he knew Elizabeth’s eyes were tracking him from her spot behind the desk, curious. He ignored the look though, crossing again the lock the other door just to be safe and then back to the closet, pulling out an oversized sweater that was kept for late nights; he hesitated and then stepped into the bathroom, a space he only rarely ducked into, and checked under the sink for a fresh box of tissues, bringing them with him back to couch.

It wasn’t that he thought his boss would turn into a tearful mess over the implication that Henry would cheat, but it’d already been a long week with the near-near-death experience in India and the disaster that had happened as a result. Blake was hoping it would be more like a moment of reprieve to keep things smoothly sailing. He turned finally and look her way, not at all surprised she was staring back with a poorly suppressed smile trying to play at her lips. “Ma’am.”

“Do you have a plan there, Blake?”

“I spoke to, and chastised, Daisy. And while I have full faith that she was mistaken, it doesn’t automatically remove the worry from your mind. About Henry or Stevie. And we still have both literal and figurative fires to put out. This isn’t me feeling sorry for you, or thinking you need to feel sorry for yourself.” He rushed. “More like, a necessary pause to the day to reset before going on.”

Her face seemed to remain impassive, but her eyes squinted, and he knew it meant she was in some way pleased with what he’d just said. “And if I refuse?”

“Then we may have to revisit the conversation about how you may be the face of the State Department, but I am Oz and if you don’t comply, I will send in the flying monkeys.”

His words made her barely-smile shift into an amused one-sided grin. “Oz, huh?”

“Yes. Now, come have a treat and some calming tea and just give yourself a minute to breathe.” He gestured to the couch and waited. After a few seconds, she nodded and stood, shedding her blazer and collecting the sweater before kicking off her heels and curling up. He passed her the ice cream and hesitated beside one of the chairs. “Would you like me to stay or go?”

He watched her tip her head up and consider him. “Stay.” She sighed. “You chastised Daisy?”

Taking a seat, he crossed his legs and folded his hands in his lap. “I told her not everyone was she and Matt.” He saw her brows shoot up. “What?”

“I said something very similar to her.”

“Oh. Well, perhaps hearing it twice will make her think.” He waited as she began to nurse the bowl of ice cream. “Have you talked to Henry yet?”

“He didn’t pick up.”

“He’s not having an affair.”

He watched her studying him. “You’re very confident about that.”

“I know Henry. You know him even better.” He drew a long breath and sighed. “Stevie out drinking though…”

“Yeah. I don’t even know how she got served. I need to talk to her.”

He checked his watch. “How about after this meeting you head home. If we need you, I’ll call.”

She started to object, but then thought better of it. “Yeah, I might do that.”


	8. Implication

“I’m home!” He was all the way in the back, but he could hear as she came through the door and then through the house, talking to Henry as she moved. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

Henry laughed and he could imagine him pulling his wife close, he’d learned long ago that the pair were far from afraid to express their affection for one another.

“No, really. I have been reading so much today, my eyes are just done.” Her voice got a bit louder, heels of her shoes clicking on the wood floors before pausing. “Wait. I thought both girls were going out to a thing tonight?”

“They did.” Henry’s voice moved closer this time, stopping in the kitchen where the food was cooking. “I am making roast for dinner.”

“But there’s four settings.” She groaned. “We’re not having company tonight, are we?” Her voice was dropped to a whisper, not that it made her impossible to hear. For someone who was ex-CIA, she occasionally failed entirely at sneaky. “Do we have company? Because I am not really feeling up for playing nice tonight. I am all niced out.”

“Not company.”

“Then…who?”

“What were you up to all day?” _Henry wasn’t that great at CIA tricks either apparently,_ he thought to himself as he listened to the blatant topic change.

“After my morning meetings, I headed over to the White House. Nadine and Jay went with me, we tried to cram in as many meetings before this trip as we could. I never went back to the office. They ran point with Daisy and Matt. Russell was being hot headed about the deal in Africa getting off without a hitch, which it did, no thanks to him.” There was movement in the kitchen, he could imagine her searching for a snack even as Henry cooked.

“Blake!” Her delighted shout made him jump slightly and he looked to the side at Jason. They were both on the couch playing a video game. “I didn’t know you were coming over!” Blake craned his head up; he was going to lose this round on the game anyway. She was at the back of the sofa and teasingly mussed both he and Jason’s hair good-naturedly before leaning over and planting a kiss on her son’s head. “My boys, bonding over violent video games. How sweet.” When she wandered off again, Blake’s attention switched back to the screen, but he kept one ear on the pair behind him. “You couldn’t tell me it was just Blake?”

“I thought it might be a nice surprise. He called today and mentioned how early the flight was tomorrow and asked about crashing here.”

“He called and asked _you?_ Why not ask me?”

“You were busy. And he has a key, and a room, so really, not a big deal.”

“You’re right. Was just surprised is all. And he’s right, we have an early morning.” There was a pause. “I’ve put off taking one of these trips, I don’t want to be gone this long because it means being away from you and the kids.”

“Well, we’ll chat every night. The kids can keep you up to date on the social lives of all their friends. It is amazing our kids are such good eaters.” Henry’s random statement made Blake chuckle.

“I eat healthy all the time. It’s been a long day; I want something junky.”

“I bought a new container of chucky chip ice cream.”

“Well in that case.” The next sounds were clearly of the pair kissing.

Beside him, Jason called out. “Scarring your son for life here!” A grin broke across his face as they shared a look. “Both of them!”

Laughter sounded from the kitchen.

==

After dinner, Ali and Stevie had come back which had led to sibling squabbling between all three before Elizabeth had ushered them up the stairs. Blake could still hear them snipping as the night wound down.

“Hey, Blake.” He turned when Henry spoke as he pushed the dishwasher shut. They’d worked together to clean on the kitchen. “I would be lying if I tried to say two weeks of travel didn’t freak me out just a little bit.” Blake followed when he was waved toward the office. “I know you do a lot, but… Just keep an eye out.”

“Always.”

“Do you have an updated itinerary, or is it still the same?”

He pulled out paperwork from his own bag by the door. “There were two changes, and I’ve tried to secure the downtime we talked about. A few stops we are in and out in a single day, so as much as I hate, it, the down time will have to be while flying.”

“This is a very busy schedule.”

He couldn’t hold in a smirk. “That’s only the overview.”

“Wow.” He leaned against his desk. “It still amazes me you stay on top of this. Exactly how early do you have to get up to stay ahead of this?”

“I try to stay two hours ahead.”

He watched Henry shake his head before seeming to shift gears. “What I wanted to talk to you about, since you’re here, is safety. Look, I get it, that’s not your job, but I’ve been to enough things here and there now to know her detail keeps their distance.” He sighed. “But you’re right there in the trenches. I honestly haven’t asked if they stay back more when I’m there because I was a Marine.”

“Possibly. But you’re right, they are more at a distance.”

“I was wondering how you would feel if I showed you some things that could be useful for clearing out of a room. She always complains about how the detail just grab her arms and drag her.”

“Sure.” He focused on Henry’s words until they were interrupted a short time later.

“What are you two up to?”

He whirled around and saw Henry look up as well. She was hovering on the bottom step, dressed down in pajamas and he wondered how long she’d been standing there watching them talk. “Nothing, Ma’am.”

“I was finding out if there had been any last-minute schedule changes is all.” Henry crossed to where she stood and pulled her into a hug as she buried her face into his shoulder. “Two weeks, it’s a long time to be on the road.”

“I know. Made even longer because we have to take the press pool with us.” She’d complained every time it’d come up since Daisy had let it slip weeks ago. “I hate flying with press on the plane, makes me feel very boxed in. Nowhere to hide if things go sideways.”

“Well, your staff and Blake will all be with you. And your detail.”

“Detail flies on the other plane. Wish the press would ride with them.” She pulled back to look Henry in the eye. “And what did that mean?”

“What did what mean?”

“You said the staff _and Blake_.”

They both turned to face him, he had remained frozen in place, trapped from escape, eyes wide. Henry chuckled before he could formulate some sort of response. “I was just thinking earlier, when Jason added him on to his comment about scarring our sons for life. It was a joke.”

She hummed. “What do you think, Blake, you could be an honorary McCord.”

“I- I- That would be nice, Ma’am.”

She laughed. “You haven’t met our families yet.”

==

Blake looked up when Matt took the empty seat beside him. He’d gotten comfortable in the chair closest to the stateroom when his boss has shut herself in an hour before. Word had come through Nadine’s always open back channels about demonstrations when they landed in Australia.

“Do you think I should have a few things prepared in case she’s asked about the demonstrators as soon as we get there?”

“Probably wouldn’t hurt. Something to the press but also something as a launch point when talking to their Foreign Minister. You know how it feels when diplomats come to us and are met with protestors.”

“Appeasement. We understand the feeling and aren’t judging.”

“Yeah. Nothing formal, but we need to plan accordingly so it sounds smooth.” He watched Matt jot down notes. They’d already had the refuel stop in LA and were now cruising over the Pacific Ocean for the longest leg of the entire trip. “Perhaps Daisy should go in the back and see if she can field some off the record questions, maybe that will give us a tab on how much they already know.”

“Good idea.” The speech writer rose and glanced to the back of the plane. From where he stood, Blake knew he couldn’t see the press pool. “I’ll start there.” Matt said to no one in particular before taking the seat beside Daisy.

No sooner had Matt left him to his work than Nadine took the empty seat. “I need your help with something.”

“I am trying to get through my normal work here.” He grumbled.

“You’re still the gatekeeper, even if the gate is forty thousand feet in the air.”

“I am well aware of that.” He glanced up, spotting their coworkers giggling together. “You reminded them no mile-high club, right?”

“I’ll give them a refresher lecture. Anyway. I just received contact asking if the Secretary would attend an awareness event, formal, big names, for bringing attention to the treatment of indigenous peoples. It would fit in the schedule in our one free night, so there wouldn’t be any moving things round.”

Why did things have to fall on the free nights? He carved those into the schedule on purpose, couldn’t people understand that. Maybe he needed to create some covert code to fill the dead space, since he doubted _mental health break to avoid breakdown_ would go over well. “But it could offend our hosts.”

“But she would be all for it.”

“But then it could start off a press storm.” Often, press was a bigger determiner of what they did than anything else.

“It could also appease any demonstrators if word got out it was in her plans; they would feel heard.”

“We have four other countries, all with their own issues.” He was already pulling up his incredibly detailed schedule on his screen. “We could end up at odds with other nations or they could disinvite us for their leg of the trip if they think we would embarrass them by bringing light to their issues.”

“Valid points.”

He huffed. He’d find another spot in their schedule to cut out the private time. Perhaps he could work in a long call to Henry for her, that would black out time, though the others would question a call that went more than maybe ten minutes. “Find out about security and seats. Smallest detail is six, is staff invited as well?”

“I’ll find out.” Jay was already hovering by the time Nadine stood to move away and make the calls.

“This workspace is entirely too small.” Blake felt his frown deepen.

“We have the conference room.” Daisy pointed out as she passed by. The all turned to stare down the hall to what they all jokingly referred to as ‘the dead zone’. It was directly ahead of where the press were seated and while there was a door between, they generally avoided using that space.

“We’re good.” Blake shook his head.

Jay pulled Matt and Daisy into the conversation about the awareness event, and then Nadine as she returned with updated details. None of them bothering to keep it quiet enough that he could get work done.

“Six agents are fine, MSec gets only a plus one, and they will have a limited area for a press pool member or two, so they’ll all have to rock, paper, scissors it to see who goes.” She gestured to the back of the plane. “So, our night off stays intact.”

“Speak for yourself.” Blake replied. “I need a list of all the attendees so I can work on memorizing them.”

“So, I’m confirming this then?” She questioned.

At his nod, Daisy stood. “I’ll talk to the pool.”

Jay headed toward the front. “I’ll see if I can back channel and leak her plans to attend to the people organizing the demonstration.”

As they all dispersed, Blake sagged back in his seat. That was almost everything covered. Now someone had to tell Elizabeth.

==

Checking his watch, Blake let himself into the stateroom several hours later. The room was mostly dark, the only light coming in filtering through the lowered shades. Paperwork was spread across the desk, some of which had fluttered to the floor. He began tidying everything up into neat, organized piles, hanging her sweater on a hook and finding both of her shoes and placing them near the couch-turned-bed. He did everything as silently as possible to not wake her. Once his tasks were complete, he found the official folder that he kept updated so she had relevant details on hand as she worked and replaced the schedule copy within with the updated version plus notes. It was all routine, slip in, do what needed done, and then slip out. Occasionally she would rouse and either say something or simply watch him work, but today she slept on.

Letting himself back out, he bit down a yelp when he turned and Nadine was standing directly at his side. “Please don’t do that.” He rushed, a hand on his chest.

“What?”

“Sneak up on me like that. There is no time in the schedule for me to have a heart attack.”

“Is she up?”

“No.”

“Can you wake her?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because we are still hours from landing, at which point she will have to ‘switch on’,” He air quoted the words, “And then it’s on the go for nearly thirteen hours after that. A meal will be ready soon, at which time if she’s not already awake, I will be waking her to eat. Whatever crisis you have can wait till then.”

“It’s not a crisis.” Nadine huffed.

“Then why are you accosting me like you’re Russell Jackson.”

“Because it was Russell Jackson’s office on the phone. He got word of the schedule change.”

“You wanted to pass him over when she doesn’t actually know about the change yet?” His brows shot up in question. “He would rip her to pieces and she’d have no defense prepared.”

“Good point.”

“Just doing my job.”

==

Between Jay’s backdoor conversations and Daisy’s comments to the press, the gathering that had planned on being demonstrators when they arrived turned into a welcoming committee, which, after a few scribbled sheets from Matt, was spun to the Minister as a great start to their two days in Australia.

Blake wondered sometimes, as he sank onto a barstool in the hotel bar late that night, if his coworkers even realized how much he did some days.

“Hi.” A young man took the stool directly beside him in the otherwise empty bar.

“Hey.” Blake looked him over. He was also in an expensive and fitted suit.

“You look as exhausted as I feel.” He signaled for a drink.

“You’re American.”

“That I am. I’m Kyle.” The younger man offered his hand.

“Blake.”

“LA, you?”

“DC.”

“Here for work?” Blake was surprised at the guess and it must have shown. “I would really hope pleasure wouldn’t put that look on your face.

“Just winding down from the day.”

“Me too. I’m here with my boss.” Kyle gave a self-depreciating huff. “I’m always everywhere with my boss. Personal assistant, not all it’s advertised as.”

“I hear you.”

“Following some entitled old dude around, more money than manners.” He thanked the bartender when his drink came. “The money’s good and the travel’s good, but a little respect would be nice. Not that I expect it now, he treats everyone just as bad.”

“Man, that’s rough.”

“How about you?”

“Me? Oh, I’m also a personal assistant.”

“In DC? Let me guess, lifer politician, plows over anything and anyone to get their way. Thinks they’re king. Or queen I suppose, I’ve heard the women politicians start off with the appearance of being better, but in the end, they’re just as bad.”

“Not quite.” He saw Kyle raise a brow at him. “I haven’t had that yet, but I’ve only been working for…them… almost two years.”

“You still have your own place?”

“Yes.”

Kyle nodded. “Keep it. Don’t let them talk you into being live-in. It’s a trap. Next thing you know you’re the one driving the kids around, nothing worse than being bossed around by a bunch of rugrats. Or, you’re being told to do all this stuff you never agreed to, but you have to to keep the job. If you blow it, there is no other job. We don’t get second chances. Which is horrible because we’re the ones running the show.” Kyle finished off his drink and checked his watch. “I gotta get back. Short leash when abroad, can’t wander too far in case they need something.”

Blake gave him a courteous smile and nod and watched him leave before turning back to his own glass in thought.

==

A night later, Blake was standing to the side of the stage, watching his boss as she gave a short, seemingly impromptu, speech _. As if Matt would have allowed that on his watch_ , he thought. A waiter passed behind him and he lifted a glass of white wine from their tray, holding onto it until she finished and walked toward him. “This is for you, Ma’am, very good speech.”

“Thank you, Blake.” She let herself lean into him slightly as he guided them through the crowd and to their table. “What’s our cut-out time?”

“Eleven, Ma’am. Ten thirty if we squeeze in all the right handshakes in time.” Even though the evening hadn’t been planned weeks in advance, it didn’t mean his job was any easier. Things like this, there were always certain people that needed that moment to appease their egos.

“Let’s squeeze then, I’m exhausted.” Blake didn’t doubt that. By the time they walked out the doors, they would have been on the go for seventeen hours. When that number crossed his mind, he was thankful that he at least got to do it while not wearing heels.

“I’ll do my best.” He stopped them at the table only long enough to set down the glass and then made a casual line toward one of the names he’d memorized. “Mister Abram Attoy, Ma’am, he is in charge of one of the groups heading the fight for indigenous equality.” He whispered into her ear as he kept close. Once introductions had been made, Blake slipped away slightly to look for the next person she needed to be seen with.

“Blake!”

Blake turned to find Kyle walking toward him. “Kyle, nice to see you again.”

“You got dragged to this shindig too, huh? So, might as well at least pretend to do my part.” Kyle turned gesturing to a man Blake only vaguely recognized. “Allan Baldwin.”

“You’re Allan Baldwin’s assistant?” Well, that explained a bit about the night before. Baldwin was known, even in DC, as a ruthless man who left wrecked careers in his wake.

“He was on the fence about coming tonight, changed his mind after the news yesterday.”

“News?” Blake wondered what he missed that would drive Baldwin, a man whose motives were squarely in abusing whatever land or people he needed to to make more money.

Kyle grinned. “The Secretary of State is here, Man, I heard she just gave some mushy speech about the demonstrations and stuff, vote gathering, you know. Did you miss it too? I was scouring the kitchen for the right brand of sparkling water.”

“I, uh, no, I didn’t miss it. Excuse me.” He turned away just long enough to shoot off a message to the others, so they knew of the addition to the guest list that’d been missed. “Look, Kyle, can you and I work a deal out? I can make it really good for you.”

“What kind of deal?”

“Keep your boss away from the Secretary tonight. If he cans you, I’ll make sure you’re not blacklisted.”

Kyle’s look of suspicion turned to realization. “You’re _her_ assistant? Dude! Sweet gig, I’d love to assist that.” His tone made Blake feel dirty, he wondered why some guys were so openly disgusting.

Outwardly, he rolled his eyes and then scanned the room. “Will you help me out or not?”

“Sure, I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you.” He checked his watch and then headed back toward Elizabeth. People could have her attention, but not forever. She wasn’t with Attoy anymore though. As he neared her, he could see there were two men talking to her, neither were coming to his immediate recall, and they were standing closer than he was comfortable. If people didn’t appear threatening, detail tended to stay on the edges of the room and let her get on with her job. Slipping in behind her, Blake touched her arm. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to borrow the Secretary for a moment.” Without waiting for a reply, he began leading her away, ducking his head as if he were speaking to her softly.

“They hadn’t made any overtures that were actually concerning, they just seemed to be intent on invading my personal space.” Her voice was low.

“I’m going to see if we can’t get hoop skirts back into fashion, Ma’am.” His quip made her smirk. “The couple we’re walking toward now is Doctor Ethan Jones and his mistress, which is apparently common knowledge, but no one directly acknowledges.”

“So how do we address her?”

“Missus Yeats.” He kept one hand on her back and the other at her elbow as they moved close enough to begin speaking to the couple. Generally, he found the small talk at these functions dull and repetitive, same few questions with every person. This one was no different as Doctor Jones tried to sweeten up to get insider information on some pending policy, loading on the compliments to attempt to butter her up. Blake held his place, and his tongue, but there were times when the latter was hard. It was Missus Yeats’ words to him as she touched his other arm that brought him out of his musings.

“Such a dazzling life to be the one chosen to travel for these kinds of things, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry?” turned only partly toward her.

Her eyes dropped to where Blake’s hand was settled at Elizabeth’s back. “People like us? We know the truth.”

“Truth, Ma’am?”

She leaned closer to him. “What is the saying in your government? You serve at the pleasure?” She winked, returning to Doctor Jones’ arm.

Before he had time to process the woman’s implications, quick movement made him turn his head to see Kyle headed their way.

“Blake, I did my best, Man.” Kyle shook his head. He looked harried; Blake could believe he’d tried to head off his boss the best he could.

“Secretary McCord!” Baldwin boomed.

“Ma’am, I swear I didn’t know until a few minutes ago. Allan Baldwin.” He turned them as one.

He saw surprise and then recognition cross over her eyes. “I’m familiar. Do not walk away.”

He would have asked for more information, but Baldwin had already closed in on them. He generally didn’t step away anyway until he knew things would stay pleasant, so the random instruction put him on alert. “Secretary McCord, we need to talk.” Thankfully, Baldwin’s voice lowered as he got to them. “I have some serious concerns about this whole show of support about some people being discriminated against.”

Blake made eye contact with one of DS and gave a quick nod, setting them in motion to already start closing in on where they stood. “I can’t imagine how a true American diplomat would want to stand in the way of business expansion and growth, perhaps it’s time you step aside and let the men sort things out. Women get much too sentimental, worried about how people feel.”

This job, especially under his boss, had introduced Blake to a whole new level of misogyny. He’d seen both Nadine and Daisy cut men down to size, but Elizabeth, always the diplomat, never flinched.

“It was sweet of President Dalton to want to help his poor friend, but perhaps it’s time you go back to working on your little farm.” Baldwin’s hand was out and grabbed her wrist, holding tight. Blake could see she hadn’t anticipated such flagrant invasion into her space and, judging by the way she tensed, he suspected the hold _hurt._

Keeping his own hold, Blake turned, pulling her with the motion. “We’re just going.” He stated to no one in particular. There was a moment where it seemed Baldwin wasn’t going to let go without a fight, but the detail moving in seemed to back him off.

“I wasn’t done with her!” Baldwin fumed, making it two steps before the detail stopped him.

“You are now.” Blake muttered, keeping hold as he rushed them toward a door. _Keep your focus_ , Henry’s voice echoed in his head. _Stilettos and formalwear don’t make for easy quick exits_ , Henry had carried on. He’d even gone so far as to demonstrate how to haul someone out. They were almost to the doorway when Blake felt her trip up, but he didn’t hesitate, kept his hold, and found his way into an empty room followed moments later by the rest of her detail.

She panted as he stepped back. “Now I know what you and Henry were chatting about.” She gave a weak grin, flexing and moving her wrist. “He had a hell of a grip.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m good. I could use some water.” He could see she was rattled and on edge. With the immediate danger handled, he obliged in giving her the moment to gather herself. Leaving her with the agents, Blake rushed to find some. In the hall, he ran into Kyle, who had a sneer on his face.

“It’s like that, is it?”

“Like what?”

“I thought once I made nice, commiserated a bit, horrible bosses and all that, that you’d not bat an eye.”

“You made that happen on purpose?” He couldn’t believe it was an intentional ambush.

“I wanted him to be impressed with my networking, figured you wouldn’t care about her getting a bit of heat to bring her down a notch.”

“Your boss is a pig.” Anger was building up, he kept reminding himself that getting into a physical altercation wasn’t going to make the night any better.

“Aren’t they all.”

“He assaulted the Secretary of State!”

Kyle shrugged. “Woman travelling on her own halfway around the world, husband back at home, she was probably sending him signals.” His grin was predatory.

Blake spluttered.

“But she’s not so alone after all, is she?” Kyle mused, walked away.

Having forgotten entirely about the water, Blake rushed back to the room in time to hear the agents share that Mister Baldwin had been disinvited from the rest of the evening.

“Good.” She stood up, turning to him, smoothing invisible wrinkles from her gown. “How much time do we have left?”

_None, we’re leaving now_ , crossed through his mind, but he’s just stepped away from one physical fight, no need to step directly into another one. “Uh, we need to hang in there another hour.”

He watched her do her best to rally. “Let’s go then.”

==

At exactly ten thirty, Blake had already started making moves toward the exit. As soon as they were in the motorcade, he melted into the seat. “How many more of these are there?” The question was redundant, if anything, he was the one who should be answering it.

“So, what are the others up to tonight?”

He fished out his phone. “Karaoke. I didn’t know karaoke bars were a thing in Australia.”

“Have they sung yet?”

He glanced up at her. “Jay says no but soon.” He typed and waiting for a reply. “He says there is now enough alcohol to make it very likely.”

“We can drop you there if you want. Save some of the rest of your night off?”

“It’s okay.”

“No, we’ll have all day tomorrow with travel and then it’s a quick stop before we’re off again. You won’t get another chance for down time until the weekend at least.” His brows crept up as she spoke, it felt like a weird reversal that she was worried about his downtime when he spent so much time worrying about hers.

“It’s the job.”

“Blake. You need time to yourself.”

“And I get it. I would like to remind you that yesterday I had practically the entire day to myself.” It’d been nice. Odd, but nice. Jay had sat in on most of the meetings, Nadine had run point, and he’d mostly moved from desk to desk, simply keeping the cogs moving on time.

“And you worked through a mountain of paperwork plus my emails.”

_Easy guess_ , he mentally replied. “Because that’s the job.”

He caught the corners of her lips pull into a frown and knew the conversation wasn’t going to just end that easily. Talking was going to happen. “What’s eating you?” He kept quiet, but that only seemed to encourage her. “Blake, we have dealt with guys like Baldwin before, hell, Russell is pushy all the time. Granted his not a woman hating pig… Generally.”

He didn’t offer anything further as they arrived at the hotel and made it to the right floor. He was at his door when she called out to him again.

“Blake. If you’re not going back out, why don’t you come in for a drink. Unwind.”

He just shook his head. “I need to sleep before we get going.” Letting himself into his room, he left her standing in the hall. Detail was out there, and he was exhausted.

Shedding his suit coat and tie, he dug out his laptop and debated, finally decided that updating Henry could wait until morning.

==

From his isolation inside the office on the plane, Blake listened as the others arrived, the clunking as luggage was loaded below, and then the murmurs as his boss joined them. He’d gotten a lift out early with the first DS agents after he texted the others to let them know his plan. Kyle’s comments, plus the other things that had taken place, had grated on him and he hadn’t slept well. To see such blatant abuse of connections, the way Kyle was so demeaning, it had hung with him. He wondered if it was just the way a person was or if it was from being in the job too long.

Before he could decide either way, the door opened and Elizabeth entered, placing Daisy’s _tablet of doom_ on the desk in front of him.

He blinked at the photo. He couldn’t even bring himself to read the three-paragraph article that was with it. It was tabloid material, no doubt, intent to wind people up, which he had no doubt it would do. Implications in DC tended to only have single-sided fallout which, unfortunately, meant that as the man, he was the one with much less to lose.

Whoever took the photo had to be almost in front of him, his gaze was just beyond what would have been the shoulder of the photographer. Without the benefit of context, it looked like he was holding her close to his chest, almost as if they’d been dancing, her face was turned up to his. It looked intimate. In reality, she’d stumbled, and he’d pulled her close to keep her from falling entirely. He’d never even looked down.

“Blake, Daisy is on it to squash any rumors. I already told Henry last night about the issue with Baldwin, he’ll just laugh it off. “

“Did you know there is this whole undertone of implications that personal assistant is code for affair.” He didn’t ask it as a question, of course she knew. They’d been around DC too long to be naive to the fact that it happened.

“I should be flattered.” Her comment shocked him, and his head shot up to figure out what it meant, but he was met with her gentle, unbothered smile.

“Ma’am.” He was ready to defend…what, he wasn’t sure. There was no need to defend himself to her.

“Look, Blake. The list of opinions I care about are my own and Henry’s. That’s it. I can’t win with anyone else. I’m more worried about how this could hurt you, professionally or personally. You’re too good a man to get drawn into something like this.”

He started to respond, but Daisy appeared in the doorway. “Press pool claims no advanced knowledge. They said the site it’s on allows random people to submit without much vetting.”

“So literally anyone could have put it up.” Elizabeth had turned to face her.

“Pretty much.”

“No. Not anyone.” Blake made the connections. “Baldwin’s assistant. He was eager to impress his boss by getting him to you after I asked him to keep his boss away. Afterward he was upset and made some comments.”

She turned back to him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I… it’s my job to protect you from all of that.”

“Daisy, could you please excuse us?” He watched her glance back to the doorway.

“Yes, Ma’am.” She slipped out and pulled the door shut.

Elizabeth crossed to the couch and sat, taking him in behind the desk. “When you were assigned as my TA at UVA, it was wonderful. I was juggling so much in my life and for that year, it all worked. When Dalton turned up about this job, told me no wasn’t an option, I sat down with Henry and we talked. All night. We talked with the kids too, but we talked about how to make it work. I was taking on a job totally out of my depth, a staff loyal to other people, I brought up you. Henry thought it was a good idea. I think he told you that at some point, I’m sure. But this whole job, it was contingent on you saying yes.” He felt her studying him. “We agreed I needed someone who would be loyal to me above all else and it had to be someone Henry _trusted_ above all else. And it had to be someone who could understand all that. It’s also why Henry instigated direct communication between the two of you himself, he gave you the key, the standing invitation, not me. Then you would never feel like something had to be secret.” She pointed to the tablet still on the desk. “He and I knew things like this would come up.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. Don’t let them get to you, Blake. Do your job, you’re good at it, don’t feel ashamed of that.” She stood again. “And according to Jason at least, you’re now one of my children anyway.”


	9. Yours, Mine, Ours

“Are you aware just how much of a sentimental romantic your boss is?”

Blake looked up from the coffee he was pouring at Nadine. “ _Our_ boss?”

“Whatever.”

“No, not whatever. You guys have been doing this for months. How long is it going to continue? _Our_ boss, it’s not that hard. I would like to remind you that while, yes, I am the one she hired in, she was told, _told_ , to replace the entire senior staff and she didn’t. Granted she didn’t because she thought you had all been hurt too much by the way Marsh died and she didn’t want you to be hurt a second time by being out of work and yes, I’m aware now that she’s sentimental.” He sucked in a breath. “As for as the romantic part, have you met Henry? At this point I’ve walked in on or have seen them with their faces smashed together so many times I think I’m entirely desensitized to it. Last week I went into her office and she was sitting on her desk and he was-”

“Stop.” She cut him off. “Please, do not torture the rest of us.”

“To answer your question, yes, I am fully aware she’s a sentimental romantic. Why is this a topic now?”

“She claimed someone was into me and was nudging me to give it a shot.”

His brows shot up, asking without words.

“I’m not telling you who.” She scoffed.

==

Blake couldn’t believe his luck later when the front desk called up about a delivery of roses for Nadine. It was like Christmas, he rushed to collect them just so he could be the one to hand them over himself. Their boss may be a sentimental romantic, but it seemed she was accurate that Nadine had someone interested in her.

For someone who loathed the gossip mill, he knew she was about to be a headline.


	10. Advice From

Blake worked his way down the London street. It really was a gorgeous day out and after a week of going from embassy to government building to hotel with barely a glimpse of blue sky, he was relieved to feel the sun on his skin. It was rare that they headed to England for more than a day or two, but Nadine and her infinite ability to schedule the world into submission had managed to arrange two separate talks to save them some travel to ‘some place dreadful’ as she’d put it. There had been a day and a half in between, but it had been packed with phone and video meetings.

He found the coffee shop on the corner and ducked in, the barista clearly recognizing him by now.

“Same?” She asked.

“Yes.” He smiled at her, checking his phone for new emails while he waited. When she handed him the carrier with the drinks, an idea came to him. “Is there a park around here?”

She seemed surprised at his question. “Oh, yes. There is a place a few streets over and to the right. Go left out of here and then turn at the Rose and Crown Pub.”

“Thank you.” He rushed back to the hotel, stopping in front of Matt, one of the DS agents. “I need your help with something.”

==

“Blake.” Her voice called through the doorway before she appeared. “Where are we headed now?”

They were wrapping up the last official talk for their week. “We are headed back to the hotel, Ma’am.” All the meetings, both in person and via video call, had been pleasant, but he knew the constant pleasantries and small talk could be just as draining as stopping crises. “You have the health awareness dinner this evening, but before that you have an appointment that will require you to change your shoes.”

“My shoes?” She looked down at her black stilettos. “Why?”

“Because I said so, Ma’am.” He allowed her to enter the SUV first and then followed behind. “The meeting is near the hotel.”

She was clearly confused. “Who am I meeting with?”

“You’ll see.”

==

He could see Elizabeth was surprised when she returned to the lobby, two of her detail trailing behind, to find him, in sneakers as well, with the other four of her detail. “Now can you tell me what’s going on?”

“We’re taking a walk, Ma’am.”

“A walk? What am I, four?”

He pursed his lips together. “We have been here a week, we leave tomorrow and while we can’t enjoy the normal sites of this city, at the very least you can take an hour or two and appreciate a little sunshine and fresh air.”

“Oh, okay.” She nodded. “Lead the way.”

They walked shoulder to shoulder for the first block, her detail spread out around them. When a section of the sidewalk became crowded near an Underground exit, he finally reached out and held onto her arm so they wouldn’t get separated. He really doubted most people here would even recognize her, but he couldn’t be certain they wouldn’t be accosted.

“Here.” She moved his hand once the crowd had thinned, instead looping her arm around his. “A little less abduction-y.”

“I’m sorry, Ma’am.”

“Or at least a little less like how my detail tends to grab me anyway. It’s a bit distressing when they do that because I know I have no control.”

“I wouldn’t want you to feel that way, Ma’am.” He found the correct crossroad and turned, finding the open park area. Matt had not been thrilled, but Blake had made a strong case for the importance of this exercise. “Let’s sit.”

Elizabeth found a bench and settled onto it, taking, and letting out a deep breath as Blake joined her, her detail taking their positions around them. “This is nice.”

“It’s been an exhausting week.” He felt her peer up at him out of the corner of her eye. “We’ve been on the go since we landed.”

“We usually are.”

“We’re usually in and out in a day, two at the most.”

“True.” Neither spoke for a while, both just taking in the warm air and people passing by. Eventually, she let out an almost inaudible sigh.

Relaxing, Blake settled his arm along the back of the bench behind her back. Eventually, his phone chirped, letting him know it was time to head back. “Well, dinner tonight and then we take off tomorrow morning.” He rose, offering his hand and then his arm for the walk back.

“Lead the way.”

==

Blake was finishing his tie when a knock sounded on his door. “Coming.” He pulled it open to see Frank, one of the detail, standing there. “Yeah?”

“Madam Secretary asked for you to come to her room when you are ready.”

“Sure. Let me grab my coat.” He turned back into the room and grabbed it before heading across the hall and into her suite. “Ma’am?”

“Good, you’re ready.” She was just slipping on her shoes. “Would it be too much to ask for you to hold on to my phone? This dress doesn’t have pockets.”

“Yeah, sure.” He took it when she passed it over, tucking it into the inside pocket of his jacket. “Is that it?” Carrying things had been one of those things Henry had brought up. Elizabeth liked gowns that pockets could be sewn into, but not all occasions called for such formality and that left him the bearer of all things- phone, notebook, coat or scarf, shoes even if it came to it.

“I think so.” They both stepped out of the room and headed down to the lobby to meet the others. “Ready?” She looked around at everyone nodding.

At the venue, Nadine and the others slipped off to smaller tables that were set up for supporting staff, Blake waved to them, a part of him wishing he could follow. The company at their table was likely to be a great deal less stuffy.

Henry had gone over this as well, the formal dinners. Not in their first conversation, but in another that was just the two of them. That meeting hadn’t been at the house but had been at the store where Blake ordered all his suits. He and Henry had exchanged stories and talked as Blake had been fitted for a tux. Henry had been the one though to point out a few colors of accessories to have already on hand.

_It’s better to coordinate when you can._ Henry had said.

Blake lead her behind a waiter who showed them to seats halfway down the table.

As the dinner progressed, Blake found himself is a very pleasant conversation with the couple to his right, they regaled him with all sorts of interesting stories about their own travels. He shared some of his own, granted limited, experiences. He kept count of the times waiters made their rounds with more wine. This early in the evening, two was the limit on glasses.

A hand suddenly landing on his leg brought his attention out of the conversation he was having and toward his boss, he realized the woman to her other side was frowning and saying something he couldn’t quite hear. _You are the one, Blake, you are there to be able to pull her away, no excuses to speak in her ear. You are the distraction._ Henry had been firm when he’d said it in the same conversation that day in the suit store. He wasn’t entirely sure what the woman had said, was saying, but Blake rose without a word, helping her stand from her seat. His hand dropped to her lower back as he set his sights on the doorway behind them that led to a long, narrow hall. Once they were alone, he used his own body to block anyone from being able to see her immediately, should they come into the hall. “Just take a minute.” He whispered.

“Yeah. I just need a minute.”

When he could hear her breath even out, he took a step back. “What had her so angry?”

The half-smile she gave him told him whatever comment came next would be laced with self-depreciation. “She was sharing her very personal opinion on how I do my job.”

“Specifically…”

“Specifically, the deal we worked out with Bulgaria.”

“Not a fan then.” He chuckled softly. He waited until he knew they had to return lest their absence become an international incident. “Ready?”

She only nodded in response.

==

After the dinner, everyone moved into the ballroom where there was a small band playing in the corner. As Elizabeth fell into conversation with someone, he moved toward the others as they mingled. As they did at every event, Nadine and Daisy had networked over their dinner, gaining names from other women of which men to avoid. Blake passed on the incident, he wasn’t sure exactly how to phrase it, with the woman from dinner.

Finding himself a glass of champagne, he stood out of the way and just watched for a bit, soon enough he would need to return to his boss’s side, but for a moment he could just relax.

“I see how you watch her.” The thick accent wasn’t accusatory, more teasing. Blake turned to find and older gentleman smiling at him.

“Sorry?”

“Your Madam Secretary.” He gestured with his glass. “She is an exceptionally beautiful woman. I see how you watch her.” When he saw Blake start to rebut, he held his hand up. “I understand.” He gestured in another direction. “Her? She is my wife. The young man with her? That is her assistant. I presume that is your role, yes?” The man and woman in question were on the dance floor, his arms comfortably around her.

“Yes.”

The older man smiled. “Liam has been a member of our family for… twenty years now. He is as a son to me.” Blake could see the fond smile on the gentleman’s face. “He loves her and she him, not of course the same way as she and I, but love all the same.” He finally pulled his eyes away and focused back on Blake. “You are new to this as she is?”

“Yes.”

“I will share with you this- There have been rumors, accusations, many times outsiders believed they were having an affair. But I always know here.” He tapped his chest. “Because Liam and I are just as close. I know his heart as well as hers.” The older man lapsed into silence at Blake’s side for the rest of the song. As the music paused, Liam appeared with the man’s wife on his arm.

“She wishes a new dance partner.” Liam addressed the man with a knowing grin. “She’s also had her allotted two flutes of champagne.”

The woman laughed, swatting Liam’s chest in mock offense. “Liam! I was hoping he would get me more!” Her antics made her husband grin.

Liam was clearly used to it though. “Perhaps later. I will go find out when the desserts will be served.”

She cupped her hand on his cheek lovingly, from the arms of her husband. “Liam, you know just how to care for me.” Then the couple was off, leaving Liam now at Blake’s side.

Blake watched the other man now, how his eyes followed the pair onto the floor. He blushed and ducked his head when Liam turned to find him staring. “Sorry.”

“No worries.” Liam seemed to suddenly relax and gave him a friendly grin. “You are here with the American Secretary of State, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And where is she now?” Liam looked around the room. “Her husband is not here tonight?”

“No.”

“You are new to all of this then.” He smiled, seeming to have the same teasing tone as the older man.

“I’m still learning.” Blake confided.

“I remember those days. Now? Wilhelm and I practically share a single seat at dinners. I will ask, do you know her husband well?” He nodded when Blake did. “That’s the most important thing. When I started working for her, for them, I thought it was only a job, but… This is my life. They are as much my family as I am theirs. It is a balance, it is hard, I know, but if you take the job to heart, then you are now married to her almost as much as her husband and… for us anyway… if you and he talk well, it will all fall into place.” Liam sipped his own drink. “Jealousy, disagreements, anger, they are human things. But the secret? The secret is they are not secret things. We all feel them.”

“Her husband sat me down when I started, he joked he was teaching me what I needed to know to be her pretend boyfriend.”

His words made Liam grin again and chuckle. “See, you are further along than you know. Now, a rule you must learn, a lady should never be far from the man responsible to her.” He made a shoo motion. “I bet she loves to dance.”

Blake handed his glass to a passing wait staffer before weaving through the people and small tables, touching her elbow to draw her attention to him. “A dance?” He asked when she looked his way.

“I’d love that.”

==

In his hotel room that night, Blake pulled out his phone and did the math, DC was five hours behind London, so it wasn’t nearly too late to make a call.

“Hey Blake, what’s up?” Henry greeted when the line connected.

“We just got back from the gala.”

“How was that?”

“Good, there was dancing after the dinner and everyone got to mingle. There were a few men I had to keep an eye on, but it was good. A lot of fun after so much work this week.” He shed his coat and tie, taking a seat in the chair to work on his shoes. “A woman seated next to the Secretary-”

“Blake.” Henry cut in. “When it’s just you and I, please, use Elizabeth.”

“I- Okay.” He paused. “A woman seated next to Elizabeth at dinner.” It felt weird. “Expressed some upset about an agreement we did last month with another country, but we stepped out a moment and when we came back the woman didn’t start up again.”

“That’s good. Was the food good?”

“Yes. And wine a plenty as always.” He heard Henry laugh. “There was another thing and, maybe I should wait until we can talk when I get back. For some reason I thought it would be less weird over the phone, but now I’m not sure.” He trailed off.

“Just get to it Blake.”

“Right.” He huffed. “I ended up talking to a couple. Well. An older gentleman approached me and started talking. He introduced me to his wife and her assistant. They’ve been together two decades.”

“That’s a long time.”

“It was weird when the husband was talking to me, he was just so okay with this younger man with his wife. But then he went off and danced and the assistant stuck around and chatted and…” Blake stopped to gather his thoughts. “I’m in this for the long haul, it’s already not just a job to me. Liam, that was the assistant’s name, he said that jealousy and anger and stuff are normal, and he said some other stuff, but I wanted to make sure you heard it directly from me.” Blake paused to draw a breath. “I will never intentionally step on your toes, but please come to me if you feel I have.”

“Only if you come to me when you have those feelings too. Honestly, I am glad you brought it up, it was something I worried about.”

“Me?”

“You said the assistant told you this? Think about it, Blake, that means he’s felt it too.” Blake hadn’t thought about it. “Let’s make a deal now, we can go out for drinks when you get back and toast to it, but here’s the deal- we always say how we feel, even if we aren’t in the mood for explaining. A text, a call, something, then we are at least both on the same page. Got it?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

“Good. It was good to hear from you. Now.” Blake could hear the tone in his voice change. “I need to go make an entirely different kind of call to my wife.”

“Oh God.” Blake groaned.

“Have a good night.”

“You too.”

Blake tossed his phone on the bed. What had he gotten himself into?


	11. Defend

Blake turned to face Stevie as she hovered in the outer office. “Look, I have a stash of dressier blouses I keep for your mom, maybe one of those will work?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

He led her back into the inner office and started digging around. Stevie wasn’t one of the McCord kids he knew as well, normally it was Ali or Jason who were home when he stopped, but now that she was living back at home, he figured perhaps he should get to know her beyond what his boss shared. “How is work?”

“It sucks. I mean, I get it, no college, no free ride, but they don’t get that I don’t really know what I want to do with my life!”

“They probably do.” He turned to face her. “I mean, your mom’s on her third career, your dad’s on his…second? That’s if you count the author stuff as adjacent to the teaching.” He popped out of the closet in time to see her frown. “I’m on my second. Even did college twice.”

“Really?” She asked in disbelief.

“Your mom never told you this?”

“No!”

“My first attempt was in finance. You know, stocks, bonds, soul sucking greed.” He faded out a moment. “Then I decided I liked my soul more than money and went back to school to find a career that let me keep mine.”

“And you ended up in politics?” Disbelief filled her voice.

“Ah. Not entirely. I ended up in your mom’s class. And then as her TA, and _then_ I ended up in politics.”

“How?”

“She really didn’t tell you any of this?”

Stevie shook her head with a grin. “No.”

He sighed. “She liked my classwork, we got along during office hours. She called and offered me the job and I said yes like a crazy person. An inability to say no is how I ended up in politics.” He handed her the shirt. “I’ll leave you to change.”

“Nice. I wish you were my assistant.” She chuckled.

“I don’t.” He headed back to his desk. _One McCord woman to keep track of was plenty._

==

“Blake!” He heard Elizabeth’s voice over the din of DS agents flooding the seventh floor. He was already heading toward her, his own protocol to be at her side in a lockdown.

“Ma’am.”

She pushed him back. “I’m fine, Jay’s got me. Stevie’s in the outer office. Stay with her.”

He paused, that wasn’t the arrangement. “But Ma’am.”

“She isn’t familiar with lockdown protocols or…evacuations. You stay with her.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He let the agents herd him to the side and into the room where Stevie was clearly angry. When she ranted about her mother delaying her, he felt he had to be on the defense. “You could have ended up some nutjob’s hostage. You’re famous, important, it’s a thing nutjobs do.”

“I’m a hostage here!”

“Again, I can think of worse people to be held hostage by, a deranged gunman comes to mind.”

She smiled then, he hoped that meant he could keep her chilled out while they were trapped.

“I know it’s not any of my business, but I don’t think she’s trying to be on your case. I think she’s just wanting you to find your thing.”

“She talks to you about me?”

He wasn’t sure how to answer that, thankfully though, Elizabeth rushed in from the conference room to check on her daughter. When she vanished again, he realized Stevie hadn’t forgotten the question. “She talks at great length about all her children. Your dad does too.”

“Right. You’re friends with him too.” She sighed. “And you know everything anyway.”

“Not everything.”

“You already knew to call my dad and siblings to say we were fine.”

“That’s my job.”

“Your job?”

“It’s my job to remember everything your mom needs to remember. Every day. All day.”

“And keep a closet full of clothes?”

He smirked. “Yes.”

“So, in these conversations you have about me, what do you talk about? What a disappointment I am?”

“That’s my position, she defends you.” He teased.

“It’s weird, you know? You drop out of school and suddenly people start seeing you differently.”

“Mm-hm.” He reached for one of the newspapers he never had a chance to look at, figuring it was as good a time as any to attempt a crossword.

“I even looked into selling my eggs. But even the clinics only wanted college grads.”

Blake froze, mentally begging Stevie to switch topics. He was far too involved in the McCord family already.

“Don’t tell my mom. It was a low moment, I realized how crazy it was.”

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

“So… What’s the best part of working for my mom?”

He laughed. “Huh, I’m not sure how to answer that.” He tipped his head as he thought. “I think there’s two, they’re the best in different ways.”

“Okay.”

“I get to be involved in a lot of global affairs that I never imagined I would have a hand in. The international aspect, the travel and people, the food. We had food for the FSOs today, so that was food from around the world. I think that’s one of the best things.”

“And the other?”

“The other is more sentimental.” He drew in a deep breath and sighed. “I don’t have a lot of family, not that I keep in touch with anyway. Your mom and dad, you kids too I guess, you all feel like family.”

“And the worst thing?”

His face fell. He wasn’t sure he could answer that yet. Any answer he would have had was cut off by Elizabeth stepping into the room, a grim look on her face.

“Stevie, can you please go into my office so we can talk?” She watched her daughter go before turning to Blake.

“What’s wrong?” He’d stood when she’d entered.

“Blake.” She walked to him so they were nearly chest to chest. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “There’s someone here who knows about my CIA time in Iraq. He wants to expose something I did, to Stevie.”

“Ma’am?”

“I facilitated things I’m not proud of. It’s why I quit.” She glanced up to make eye contact. “I have to tell her, so she hears it from me. Then I have to go back in there and attempt to put out the fire on the talks. Unfortunately, you’re going to be the one dealing with the fallout for now.”

“Ma’am.” He was almost begging with the single word.

“She’ll forgive me one day, right?” She looked up at him again.

“Yes.”

“I wish Henry was here.” She turned and walked through the door.

“Yeah, me too.” He said to no one.

==

The lockdown lifted, but Blake knew the problems were only beginning. Chasing Stevie down the hall, he tried to stop her, to find out just how upset she was. Her comment about her mother stunned him. “Stevie, wait!” He tried one last time.

“What, Blake?” She snapped.

“I- I’m in a unique position, I know things… I know more than a lot of people. And I get it, it’s hard to hear bad things, horrible things, and then wonder who the person really is. Were they ever good? I-I already knew what she told you.” He frowned. “I didn’t know her before, but I can tell you, it changed her. And she remembers it every day. She carries it everywhere with her.”

“And now I have to carry it too.” She turned and stormed away.

Heading back down the hall, Blake wondered just how far the blast radius of this would be.

==

Debating as he sat on his couch, Blake finally picked up his phone. Henry was still out of town, he knew, but somethings couldn’t wait. When the line connected, he jumped in. “Hey Henry… I’m worried about something that happened today…”


	12. Detail

George followed his new partner through the garage under the Truman Building. “There’s one other person you have to meet before we head out to meet the family.” He listened to the senior agent share. Looking up, Fred was grinning at a man stepping out of the elevators into the early morning light. “Mister Moran!” He called out.

“Fred, how are you this morning?” The man’s eyes cut from Fred toward him. “Is this your new partner?”

“Indeed. George Stephanopoulos, meet Blake Moran. Blake, George. Blake here is the secretary’s right hand man, every issue, question, concern, you run through him. Schedule or anything changes, no matter how trivial, you send him a message.”

Blake was already pulling a business card. “All my contact details. I am reachable literally twenty-four hours a day.” George took it with a nod of thanks, looking over the list of numbers on the front.

“You riding for pick-up today?” Fred asked from beside him. George had had enough assignments around town to know it wasn’t unusual for other people to ride along on their runs.

“I could.”

“Let’s go then.” Fred gestured to the SUV. “You can give George here all the warnings while we go.” Both men laughed, making George smile. Some of his assignments had been serious politicians who often pretended their detail weren’t even in the vehicle. It was a little comforting knowing that the Secretary’s right hand guy was so at ease with them.

“So, you’re her personal aide then?” He twisted to see Blake once they were pulling out. “How long have you done that?”

“I came on at state with her and yes, I’m her personal assistant.”

“Slash, everything under the sun.” Fred added from behind the wheel. “When we travel, you’ll get used to having Mister Moran around, he’s well versed in our protocols. He’s a good extra man, as is her husband.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Glad to hear I’m not just in the way.” Blake grinned. The conversation carried on until they pulled up out front. “I’ll go let her know we’re here. Have you met the whole family yet?”

“No, we’re doing that today.”

Blake scoffed and shook his head. “Really Fred, a weekday morning intro? Are you trying to run him off?” He climbed out of the SUV, George and Fred trailing behind. 

He gave Fred a look of surprise when Blake simply let himself in. “He can do that?” It was one thing to know the younger man was his charge’s personal assistant, it was an entirely different thing to see him waltz into the house like he lived there.

Fred gave him a quick nod. “He can, we wait. Some mornings when we get here, Mister Moran’s already here waiting. He’s very close with the whole family.” A moment later, Henry was at the door.

“Gentlemen, please, the kids are rushed this morning, but you can meet them on their way out the door.”

George stood through quick introductions, impressed with the short conversation he had with the husband. From further in the house, he could hear Blake’s voice as well as a woman’s, he surmised it was the secretary. Whatever was being said drew Henry further into the house again as the kids left. He glanced to Fred. “Busy house.”

Henry reappeared, this time in a coat, and smiled at them. “That’s all of them, I’ll see you out, I’m on my way to work.” He held the door open and followed them to the sidewalk. “Elizabeth’s about ready, Blake was giving her a countdown before she gets left behind.” He chuckled. “Have a good day.”

Five minutes later, George retook the front passenger seat after Blake and Elizabeth were in the SUV. “Fred!” Elizabeth drew out. “You let Blake come empty handed.” Her teasing tone telling George even more about his new assignment.

Fred attempted a stern look around his grin. “I apologize, Ma’am. He rode along for George’s first trip out.”

“Oh, yes, it’s good to meet you George.” He felt a hand pat his shoulder from behind.

As they worked their way through the neighborhood, he twisted in his seat so he could see her where she was seated behind him. She was attempting to untangle a scarf from her coat, after another minute, Blake leaned over and tugged it free for her.

“Thanks.” She glanced up, grinning at George before he turned back around, opting to watch the pair in the vanity mirror. “Can we stop somewhere and have Blake run in then, I was looking forward to a scone this morning.”

“What do you say, Mister Moran? Up for a coffee run?” Fred questioned.

“Hm.” Blake teasingly eyed Elizabeth. “She was running late this morning, not sure that should be rewarded.” He chuckled when she swatted his arm. “Sure, let’s stop on the way in.”

George listened as the pair in the back bantered all the way to the coffee shop and then waited as only Blake ran in and got their order. Once Blake climbed back in, the conversation behind them was all business until they pulled back into the garage under the Truman Building. As he and Fred climbed out, he saw Blake take the secretary’s bags and walk with her to the elevators.

“Heh.” Red chuckled as he rounded the end of the SUV.

He turned to see what Fred was grinning at and saw one of the bags Blake had brought out of the shop.

“How do you feel about bagels?” Fred held it out. “Blake never fails.”

He took one with a thanks. “So now what?”

“We go up to one and wait. Blake will call when we need to take her somewhere.”

“Will he be with her?”

“Not as much during the day, her other staff ride with her more during the day.”

“They all like that?” He waved back to the SUV as they stepped onto the elevator. “Friends like that?”

Fred shook his head. “Not so much, but they’re all nice. Not like some assignments.” He huffed. “I have had to deal with mistresses, secret meals, junkie kids, all sorts of things, but you won’t get that with the McCords.”

“That’s good though, right?”

“You would think.” He smirked. “Just wait until you turn around and she isn’t where you left her.”

“She’s a runner?” That surprised him.

“Doctor McCord helps her, which isn’t too bad, he’s an ex-marine, but she gives her staff the slip too. And that’s what I meant earlier about anything and everything through Mister Moran. If she goes off on her own, he’ll know where to look.”

“Good to know.”


	13. Joey

He was instantly on his feet when he saw Daisy nearly running toward him from the conference room. “What’s wrong?”

“The prince was shot on live television.” He could see the pain in her face. “Jay and I were…” She looked over her shoulder, drawing his attention to Elizabeth sitting now in a chair in the far room. Even through the glass, he could see the sorrow on her face. “We didn’t know…” She tried again, still unable to finish a sentence.

He nodded, hurrying back the way she’d just come. In the doorway, Jay frowned but stepped back. The room was too exposed, with glass walls on both sides. They all jumped when the TV replayed the tragedy again. “Turn it off.” He snapped, watching Jay rush for the remote. Turning back to Daisy, he lowered his voice. “Clear out whoever you can.” He watched her nod and turn away. “Ma’am.” He turned his focus to Elizabeth. “Let’s go. It’s only a short walk.”

He stayed at her side, thankful she seemed to be holding it together, Jay trailed behind them. They made it as far as her doorway before she stopped. “I can’t.”

“Ma’am?”

“Joey was in there.” She whispered. “I can’t go in there.”

He looked back at Jay, begging for an idea. Jay looked around before gesturing to the larger conference room next door. “This way.” He kept his voice as soft as hers. Once the doors shut, he turned to discover the rest of the staff was standing, waiting. “Not here.” He waved, moving them away from the doors. “This was…” He worked to gather his thoughts, remembering their interactions in that office only the day before. “They went to school together; they had nicknames for each other. This was her friend. We need to know about the funeral as fast as possible, she’ll want to be there.” He paused, but no one moved. “Nadine, see how fast you can lock down the funeral details, from there I’ll get a flight sorted out. Daisy, find out about her attending. I know there are protocols in their culture about women and their status. But she’s the Secretary of State and his friend. Surely that must count for something. And Jay, we really need to know who did this and why.” They all hesitated before nodding and turning away.

Glancing back at the closed doors, Blake rested one hand on the wood, willing his sympathies to seep through. Drawing a steadying breath, he headed to his desk to place a call. She’d need the information they were gathering, but first she needed something else. “Henry.” He spoke when the line connected. “Elizabeth wishes to speak with you, hold on.” They would deal with the death of Prince Obaid later, first they had to deal with the death of Joey.


	14. Wheel

“Hey Blake!” The cheery voice made him look up from his paperwork. “I got a message that Mom wanted to see me?”

He grinned. “She’s not here, she’s over at the White House.” Alison’s face fell. “But she isn’t who sent the message.”

“She wasn’t?”

“I was.” He gestured to the receiving room. “Have a seat and give me five minutes. I misjudged how fast you would get here from school.”

“Sure.” He watched her bounced over to a chair, dropping her bookbag beside it.

“I heard you have your learner’s permit.” He spoke around the corner.

“She told you? Of course, she told you. Did she tell you she wants to teach me to drive? Her! Which of course means I have to drive with the motorcade.” Her voice lowered when he rounded the wall. “It didn’t even do any good to point out she’s been driven around literally every day for over a year. Even when she’d with Dad, he usually drives.”

Blake laughed. “Tactical driving isn’t easy, driving with the motorcade is a steep place to start. How are you doing going out with your dad?”

“Fine. He gets real nervous though. Stevie says it’s because he’s used to being in control all the time, like when he flew planes.”

“Well.” He put the last of his things away. “How would you like to get some stress-free practice in?”

“What?”

“I have about an hour free. It’s all yours if you want it.”

She squealed and bounced on her toes. “That would be awesome, Blake!”

He grabbed his coat and keys. “Let’s go then. Just…don’t wreck my car, please.”

==

Just over an hour later, they were walking back through the seventh floor with Ali wearing a giant grin. “That was so much better than driving with Mom _or_ Dad! Thank you!”

“We can work up to the motorcade if you want, but you did pretty good. Just don’t let them rattle you.” When she hugged him, he hugged back. “If you want to do this again sometime, I’ll have an hour free on Friday again. Same time?”

“Yes!” She waved and skipped off to her mother’s office.

“Blake.” He turned to find Nadine attempting to not grin at him, her arms crossed. “What, pray tell, was that?”

“A driving lesson.” He shrugged it off, turning to head to his desk.

She fell in step with him. “Does the secretary know?”

“It didn’t seem relevant.”

“Hm.” She gave him a suspicious look but didn’t comment until he was seated in his chair. “You make a good big brother.” She patted his shoulder and walked away.


	15. Iran

He was not afraid to admit that the idea of his boss flying to Iran under cover of secrecy with no staff and what seemed like no security freaked him out.

More than a little bit.

The region wasn’t exactly shy on their thoughts of America. Or women. Or her, in particular. And there was going to be a _coup_ at any moment! He didn’t leave the office; this was part of the job. He had no doubt Henry was also upset about the turn of events, he was an educated man of the world after all, but right now he had to be Dad. Which left Blake to do a large part of the worrying.

He’d asked Fred, one of the DS agents making the trip, to make contact at regular intervals from the moment they touched down in Iran until they took off again. It had helped ease his mind that things were going according to plan. That was, until the contact stopped.

“Something’s wrong.” Blake burst into Nadine’s office. “Fred missed a check in with me.”

“Why was Fred checking in with you?”

“I asked him to. He didn’t check in and when I sent a message, no reply.”

He watched her open her mouth to say something else, likely to talk him off the ledge he’d worked himself onto, but the other three bursting in stopped her.

“You have to see.” Jay passed a tablet to Nadine. “The coup must’ve got moved up.”

“Worst case scenario.” A frown pulled down on her lips. “I need to reach out to Russell Jackson’s office, see if he can get information. We need to back channel allies as fast as possible before Iran does an information black out. We need to prepare possible statements for whichever way this goes.” Everyone started to scramble. “Blake, wait. I’ll call Doctor McCord, but can you think of anything she might have said or done that could help us? Aside from her husband, you are the person she opens up to the most.”

“I-uh. Mostly it was-” He swallowed hard, trying not to think of how upsetting it was. “Mostly it was where various documents were.”

“Documents?”

“Things like bank account information, things Doctor McCord might need after…”

He saw her blanche at the thought. “She knew this might happen. She was putting affairs in order.”

“I think so.”

She seemed to wilt a bit at the thought. “I’m sorry.”

==

It hurt too much to think about. For the rest of the staff, this was the second Secretary of State who had died in a relatively short amount of time, but for him… Personal assistants didn’t stay on when Secretaries changed, generally they moved through politics with them, as did other members of staff.

Blake sank into his desk chair. Much of the staff thought they would be riding Marsh to the White House, and it was getting easier to imagine, despite her denials, one day following Elizabeth there as well. He was determined, though, to find some way to stay busy as they waited for word. Yanking open a bottom drawer in search of blank paper, though, he froze. He stared down at the out of place envelope staring back at him, his name scrawled on the front.

He lifted it out and placed it gingerly on his desk, he knew what it was. And there was no way he could open it until it was real, that she was really dead.

==

_She’s alive!_ Blake kept hearing those words over and over in his head. _She’s alive! She’s alive!_ He wanted to both simultaneously shout it from the roof and collapse into a chair and cry in relief. Nadine’s hand on his arm brought his attention back to the room.

“Come with me.” She spoke softly. He followed her into the inner office and let the door close behind them. “She’s alive, but she’s injured. From what I can gather mostly cuts and bruises, she got some stitches in a bunker by an army medic, they’re going to redo them in Germany and then she’s on her way home.”

“So, there is a plan for that then.”

“Yes. The stop in Germany is going to be quick, enough of a workup to clear her for the trans-Atlantic flight, and then a full workup when she lands. Look, Blake. Why don’t you call Doctor McCord and make sure someone will be there for her?”

“Uh, yeah. I’ll call him.”

==

Blake stood by the personnel door of the hangar. The plane had landed, and he had watched it taxi over, his anxiety was running high and he knew it would only ease once the door opened and she stepped out. When the door opened, however, it wasn’t her that appeared. One of her detail, looking battered himself, stepped out, scanning the space until his eyes landed on Blake.

“Mister Moran.” He gestured. “Bring any bag you might have brought with you.”

Blake rushed to do as requested, as he stepped in, all the agents plus the pilots left. She looked so _small_ in one of the large chairs. Her hair was a mess, small cuts on what he could see of her arms and face. The dirt on her face was broken by tear tracks and he could see her eyes shimmering. The muscles in her jaw flexed as she clenched her teeth, her hands tense on her lap. A protective ball welled up inside him, it should be Henry here but at the same time, he wanted to protect them both from the moment that would have to come. This was part of his job, it wasn’t about making her look good for others, not really. And it wasn’t to make her look good for Henry by any means, but he needed to get her to a place mentally to move forward. Get her ready to face the next step.

“Ma’am.” She didn’t seem to hear him, lost in thought, so he moved to kneel in front of her. He took her hands in his and began to try again, but those blues eyes turned to him and gasped a moment before sobs wracked her body. Shifting, he took the seat beside her and pulled her close.

He’d planned on helping her clean up and change, but when she eventually passed out on him, he decided it wasn’t worth the stress right now. With a free hand, he texted down to her security who confirmed an ambulance was waiting at the bottom just in case. Shifting, he pulled her onto his lap and then stood, lifting her, musing to himself about how a woman who was such a commanding force and presence on a world stage could also be so slight. Carefully, he made it down the steps to the waiting paramedics. “I think it’s mostly exhaustion.” He offered as they took over. “I’ll meet you guys there.” They nodded and moved away as he turned back to fetch his things.

==

By the time Blake caught up again at the hospital, she was laying on her side on a hospital bed in a private room, a doctor looking over her stitches. “Ma’am, I brought you extra clothes.” He rounded the bed, concerned at the line of stitches on her back and unphased by the necessary hospital equipment. He sat on the bed in front of her, taking both hands, careful not to jar the IV. “I’m not leaving here until you do, just so you know.”

She was trembling. “Thank you.”

“Are you okay?”

“A little cold maybe.”

He doubted that was the whole case, but he still asked the nurse for extra blankets. “Henry is with the kids. He was torn, he wanted to see you, but we talked, and I agreed to see you to your door.”

She only nodded, gasping when the doctor touched a sensitive spot. At the concern on his face, she squeezed his hand. “I’m okay.”

“You’re not and that’s okay. How about- you will be okay, date and time currently undetermined.” She smiled softly at him. “You close your eyes and rest; it won’t take long to do what they need to. I’ll stay right here.”

“Holding my hands?”

“I won’t let go.”

==

Checking over the hospital room, Blake was impressed with just how quickly things could get spread around. Folding the pile of discharge papers, he shoved them along with the bottle of antibiotics and other medicines into his jacket pocket before finishing shoving her dirty clothes into the personal belongings bag the hospital provided. It had taken work to get the sweater on her and then her coat, now all that was left was shoes. He turned. “Ma’am, you are going to pull your stitches and then you won’t be going home.” He took the shoes from her, bending down to slide them on her feet. “All set.” He rose and helped her up, collecting the various bags against her protest.

“I know you think you can do everything, but the doctor warned you may be unsteady.” He stated as he pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her waist. “Let’s get you home.” He kept ahold of her as security led them to the waiting motorcade. “You need to rest and… as always if you need to talk, I’m here.”

“Thanks Blake.”

==

It ended up being Henry who urged Blake to stay when they arrived at the house, a suggestion that, honestly, filled him with relief. Between them, they got Elizabeth to her own bed and settled before pulling the door closed. He was surprised when strong arms wrapped him in a tight hug and he simply hugged Henry back.

“I thought that was it, that we lost her.” Henry whispered. Blake could feel the tears against his neck. “I’d never really considered how we would go on.” Henry pulled away. “Thank you for staying. I know you will probably relax knowing you can check in as you need to, but it’s good to have you here. I’m going to start dinner for everyone if you want to get settled.”

“Yeah. I’ll keep an ear out while I’m up here.”

“Hopefully, she’ll sleep till dinner’s ready.” He sighed. “Hopefully, she’ll eat.”

“One step at a time. You go down with the kids and do dinner. Once that’s done, we’ll go from there.” He watched Henry nod and then vanish down the stairs before finding his way to the guest room and sinking down. He was exhausted, but glad she was home.

==

Blake woke in the darkness and stilled, unsure what woke him. Pressing his hands to his eyes, he then checked the clock, nearly three in the morning. The sound happened again, and he climbed out of bed. It was crying, he followed it down the hall, _just to check_ he told himself. The master bedroom door was open, so he moved around to peer in. Elizabeth was curled on her side, she was the one crying so hard she could barely catch her breath, and Henry was curled behind her, whispering, and trying to calm her down. They were both facing the far side of the room and that allowed him to just stare a moment.

After a minute, he realized he was gawking on a private moment and he headed back to his own room. As he climbed back into bed, he wondered if this was what the other man had meant about jealousy.

==

By morning, Blake found himself in a mood he couldn’t shake, so he hid away. Once the kids were gone, though, Henry found him and prodded him down to the office downstairs, away from where they might be overheard by anyone who woke up on the second floor.

“Talk to me, Blake.”

“I have been through like a million emotions the last few days.”

“Me too.”

“When we realized the coup was happening, I was terrified. Then I was angry. I was angry at the president and Russell for signing off, I was angry at her for even trying and I was angry at you for not stopping her.” He deflated. “I was angry at me for not stopping her.”

“I get that.”

“She had made me go through her things with her and get her affairs in order. In case she died. She knew she might never come back.” The room was quiet for a minute. “I found a letter in my desk from her. She even went as far as writing me a letter…”

“I didn’t know she’d done that.”

“Then word came she was fine, and I was relieved, but she was hurt, and I worried. Seeing her on that plane.” He shook his head. “She looked frail. The woman who probably just stopped a nuclear war!” His voice rose, but he cut himself off. “All I could think was- How could this be that woman?” He looked up to see tears in Henry’s eyes.

“When we found out we were expecting Stevie, she was still with the CIA. From the moment I’d met her, she’d been this force to be reckoned with, and that didn’t stop as she got bigger and bigger until she was this-” He chuckled despite himself. “This all stomach and nothing else. And then Stevie was born and the moment she was in Elizabeth’s arms, I met the other Elizabeth. The soft and scared and… It was the first time I think I ever realized just how small she really was.”

“I think she forced herself to stay awake the whole flight home.” Blake shared. “The security detail left to travel with her, she didn’t really know them. I think she felt alone. When I got to her, she cried until she passed out. I’m the one who carried her off the plane.” He spoke softly. “I don’t know why, I had to do that. For her, for you I guess.”

“For yourself.” Henry added. “It was probably better than seeing her loaded onto a stretcher and carried out.”

“Yeah.”

“Is that what has you upset this morning?”

Blake felt himself redden. “No. It’s… No.”

“Blake. We had a deal.”

“I woke up last night to her crying. I went to make sure you were there and…” He didn’t finish right away. “I suddenly felt jealous.”

“Jealous of what?” Henry’s tone was even, calm.

“I don’t even know really. And I don’t get why.”

Henry simply nodded. “Come on.” He stood, leading them up to the master bedroom where she was fitfully sleeping in the middle of the bed. “Sit.” He motioned to the far side, when Blake didn’t move, Henry sat on the bed on his own side, back against the headboard. “Come on, Blake.”

Eventually, Blake rounded the bed and copied Henry’s position, each of them pressed up against her where she slept curled in the covers. In moments, she calmed.

“I have a feeling it’s going to take both of us to get her through this.”

==

Days after the morning sitting on the bed, Blake realized that Henry was correct as he watched the woman they both played supporting roles to, began to spectacularly fall apart.

She would get quiet, almost seem to lose track of where she was, and then would be so angry and hostile before sounding on the verge of tears. He’d stepped in to take as much of it at work as he could, and he knew Henry was facing the same things at home. Texts back and forth shared a worrying pattern of increasing instability. The volume of her voice shared an increasing pattern of her emotions violently shifting at the drop of a hat.

He was about to simply barge into the meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister when the sound of the side door to her office opening made him turn. He would never get the image out of his mind, the way her hand clung to the door frame as she leaned into it, how pale she looked. Once he set the protocols into motion to get medical help on the way, Blake rushed into the conference room, pulling the door shut to keep peeping eyes from looking in. She hadn’t stayed upright far enough to get to a chair and was sagged on the floor in front of the wood credenza. “Ma’am.” He gripped her hand. “Help is on the way.”

She was gasping, her free hand pressed against her chest. “Feels like I’m gonna pass out.” Her eyes closed.

“No, no, keep looking at me.” He touched her cheek to draw her attention. “I think I hear Nadine talking to the paramedics, help will be here in a second.” Sure enough, the large pocket doors pushed open, revealing two paramedics, Nadine, and an otherwise empty office beyond. He backed out of their way. “I’ll reach her husband.”

“A car has already been sent for him.” Nadine shared. “You go, if they allow it, stay with her until he arrives.”

“Yeah.” He watched as her shirt was opened and monitors applied to her chest. A second later, her head lolled to the side and they were urgently moving her to the stretcher talking about oxygen levels. At Nadine’s reminding prod, he rushed to follow them out of the building.

The ambulance ride was harrying. Occasionally her eyes would crack open, but then her eyes would roll, and they would close again.

“She’s a fighter.” The paramedic keeping watch commented. “Her body wants her unconscious, but she is fighting it with all she has.”

“Yeah, she is.”

“You said her husband is meeting us there?”

“They’ll probably beat us there.”

“Good. Because even fighters can take a turn. It’s better if their loved ones are there.” The rear ambulance doors opened, he hadn’t even noticed they’d stopped, and he watched her be unloaded.

==

He should have known that his day was not going to carry on well. By the time he got back to the office, compliments of the DS agents who had brought Henry to the hospital, and had settled back at his desk, Henry was calling him to tell him what the results were of the testing. A panic attack.

Well, that didn’t surprise him.

He’d listened as Henry had brought up PTSD and what to watch for, he made notes to do more research later. Then Henry had dropped the biggest bombshell- she was headed back to the office, with a plea to watch her like a hawk.

And if Henry stressed it that hard, Blake knew Henry was opposed to it. And if he was against it, there had to be a reason. When he met up with her and Mike B, he understood why. She didn’t look a whole lot better than she had the last time she’d left, and she’d been on a stretcher then.

He openly listened as Mike B tried to wrap up a conversation in which she clearly zoned out _a flashback probably_ his brain supplied. She’d said she didn’t need anything from him, but between that and Henry’s warning, he followed anyway, making sure the door closed behind him. He looked up in time to see her clinging to her desk phone as it was pressed to his ear, crying as she slid down the bookcase behind her desk. Rushing around the desk, he sat on the floor beside her. “I’m here.” He said both for her benefit as well as Henry’s down the line.

He listened to Henry talk. “Babe, Blake’s there now, let him take care of things, okay? He’ll get you home.” When it sounded like he was about to hang up, her panic increased. “No, I’m not going anywhere, but you trust Blake, I’ll talk, just let him be your support.” Looking around, Blake settled his back against the edge of the case, it seemed she preferred the feeling of being enclosed so he left her crowded into the corner as he wrapped an arm around her. They were behind the desk, so if someone came in, he would have time to react before they were seen. Putting his legs out straight, Blake turned her, so her legs were across his lap, all the while Henry carried on talking. Together, they would get her through it.

==

“Here.” Henry passed Blake a beer as he joined him on the couch. “Man, I’m exhausted.”

“Yeah.”

“Look, I’m sorry if all this is disrupting your personal life.”

“It’s fine.” He checked his watch. “I’m actually going out later to meet some friends.” He let his head fall back. “Unless I’m asleep already.”

“No, don’t sleep. Go out. You need to separate.”

Blake rolled his head to the side to look at Henry. “So, totally random and not meaning anything at all, but in my job, I run into a lot of people who do the same job for other people.”

“I think I follow.”

“Personal assistants make this world go ‘round. We are the keepers of… _a lot_.”

“The real threat to national security?” Henry asked with a grin.

“Something like that. Anyway. A few, the ones who work for powerful people who do not live nine to five lives, a few simply live with their employers.”

Henry was thoughtful a minute. “And?”

“And I can’t decide if that’s weird or not.”

“I suppose the amount of weird is on a case by case basis.”

“I think on a situation basis as well.”

“How do you mean?”

“I’m on call twenty-four seven, which I knew would be the case when I signed on, and up till Iran, it’s been a predictable kind of thing but… I don’t know, maybe I’m in too deep to see the potential problems but between Iran and now the real recovery with all this, maybe for a bit it would be easier.”

“Easier?”

“If I was here full time, at her side whenever you couldn’t be even if it meant away from the office.”

“She hates being handled; she’ll hate a babysitter.”

“True.” Blake nodded. “Unless it’s her idea.”

==

Blake was out, the kids were in their rooms, and Henry was crawling into bed beside his wife. “Hey.”

Elizabeth smiled up at him. “Hey. Where have you been?”

“You know, dinner, getting the kids sorted out, talking to Blake before he left.”

“He left? I was going to thank him for today.”

“I’m sure he’ll check in.” He pulled her close. “Talk to me.”

“You were right, I wasn’t ready.”

“You’ll get there, you’ll be okay again, you just need to give it time is all.” He rubbed her back.

“I don’t want it to take time.” She groaned in frustration. “I have work to do.”

“Well.” He sighed. “You can do some work from home.”

“How?”

“Blake can bring you what you need.”

“That’s piling too much on him. He’s already picking up the pieces of me falling apart, I can’t pile more on him.”

“I don’t think he sees it that way.”

She twisted, turning to her side so she could see him. “Did he say something?”

“We talked.”

She waited. “And?”

“I think he’s worried he hasn’t been taking enough off you.”

“How could he think that?”

“I can’t go into it further.”

“Guy talk code, huh?”

“Something like that.” He nudged her back over. “I was watching this ‘real lives’ thing, did you know some of these celebrities have their personal assistants live with them?”

She rolled over again, eying him suspiciously. “Your tradecraft doesn’t compare to mine, McCord.”

He slid sideways so they were face to face. “I am worried about you. I am your husband and I’m allowed to be worried, so accept that. Also, a fact, I can not be with you every waking moment. Or sleeping moment for that matter, but I digress. You walk out of here and into your motorcade and from then until you walk back in, I have to trust that your detail and Blake are looking after you.”

“You put that on him?”

“Put isn’t really the right word, Blake assumed that mantle all on his own and I’m going to let you in on a failing secret, but we work together to manage you.”

“You mean like for our anniversary.”

“Tip of the iceberg, Babe.”

“Great.”

“After he started, he and I had some talks so we’re on the same page.”

“I know he stayed over after Iran.”

“And he knows the room is available to him whenever he wishes.” He drew a steadying breath. “He brought up staying here short term.”

“ _He_ did?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“After today… He worried about one of us not being with you for a while.”

“What about _his_ life thought?”

“I will point out that he’s out living his life now. I’m here, I’m in for the night, so he’s off doing his thing.” She huffed a sigh. “What?”

“It’ll be like bringing home a stray puppy.”

“What?”

“It’s cute, bring it in, say it’s just till you find it a home and then BAM, ten years down the road you still have it.”

“Blake is not a puppy.”

“It’ll be like having another kid.”

“Another kid with a post-grad degree and a stable job.”

She thought a minute. “The table already seats six anyway.”

“That’s the spirit.”


	16. Unofficially

Blake peeked in at Adele as he rounded the corner. “Is he still here?”

She gave him a withering look and sighed. “Go on in.”

Knocking lightly on the door, he waited until Russell called out before letting himself in. “Mister Jackson?”

Russell looked up and then sighed, his chin dropping to his chest. “Mister Moran, come in.”

“I- I just needed a minute of your time…unofficially.”

Russell seemed to sag a bit. “Sit.” He moved to a cart and held up a decanter. “Drink?”

“Sure.” Blake waited for him to sit as well, accepting the drink. “Thank you.”

“So, what can I do for Bess’s assistant ‘ _unofficially’_?”

“I need a list of every meeting she has at the White House for the next two weeks and I need to know which ones she has to physically attend and which a proxy can be sent. Preferably without it being made known that I asked. I’m probably already risking my career.”

Russell sank back in his seat. “I take it she’s not improving then.” He saw the suspicion on Blake’s face. “I went by and saw her the other night, I… I get it.” He sipped his drink. “Your job’s not at risk. I’ll have the list to you in the morning, what time are you in?”

“By seven, Sir.”

Russell nodded. “I’ll have it on your desk by seven then. Tomorrow forward, for two weeks. If you need more, just let me know.”

“I appreciate it.” He started to rise.

“Finish your drink.” Russell gestured for him to stay seated. “No sense in wasting a good drink over this. I think there’s enough suffering happening all around right now.” They both lapsed into silence, sipping their drinks, before Russell spoke again. “I thought she was nuts bringing you on when she took the job, no experience in the political arena and you didn’t seem like the type to have the stomach to play hardball. Of course, I thought Dalton was nuts for hiring her on as secretary… I know that’s not a secret. And honestly, my issues with her were pretty much for the same reasons.” He drew a breath. “The past few days have painted a different picture.”

Blake didn’t ask, but there was a questioning look on his face when Russell glanced up.

“My wife likes to tell me that women are stronger than men because they know how to break and pick up the pieces and go on, that men don’t know how to break at all. I’ve heard around town that Bess is strong because this didn’t break her but… you and I both know it has.”

“She’s trying to pick up the pieces.”

“We all are. You’re in my office at ten o’clock at night asking for things that at the least her chief of staff should be the one requesting. I’m… I was sitting here trying to figure out how to head off any media coverage if her issues became public.”

That surprised him.

“Look, you’re a white-collar guy. Talk to your policy guy, he was in the military; talk to Henry, some of her detail. Ask them… ask them what to expect with PTSD. And then make sure there’s always an evacuation plan. Every meeting, every event, hell, every phone call.” He paused again, lifting his glass to find it empty “Well, I’ve taken enough of your time, Mister Moran. Have a good evening, I’ll get that list to you.”

==

Blake was early the next morning to his desk, but there was already a folder right in the middle. Taking his seat, his opened the cover. The list of meetings plus notes on whether Jay or Nadine would be able to sit in proxy. He looked over the list twice before he realized Russell didn’t have a single meeting listed that the secretary had to be present in person. At the bottom there was a handwritten note.

_I know she won’t sit everything out but hope this helps you with your plans. Good luck._


	17. Wild Blue

Blake stood in the middle of the Secretary’s office with a notepad in hand. They’d reached the point in trip preparation where most of the last-minute panic was actually over and a certain level of acceptance had set in. What was ready, was ready; there was no more time. Now it was just a matter of getting everyone where they needed to be _on time_ , which he’d learned, was at times a lot harder than it sounded.

“Make sure we have folders for each of the representatives that will be there from the other countries. I mean, I know we can access it online, but with the time difference, I want to limit any delays of things that are hard copy.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He felt the frown pull at the corners of his mouth. He was pretty sure the request held no other purpose than to allow her some form of control over an evolving situation. None of them had the stomach anymore for flying into evolving situations.

“And please remind Matt when you hear him that this isn’t a play trip, he’s going to work.”

“I hadn’t heard anything?”

“Oh.” She laughed and her head finally popped up from where she’d been bent over her briefcase. “You will. Nadine filled me in yesterday.” She switched to digging through a drawer. “Henry has classes, so he’s staying back with the kids, so you’re my plus one for meals.”

He knew that. It was a minor insult to his skills that she’d even said it, especially so close to departure, but it felt like more of that grasping for control. “So, tux?”

She scrunched her face. “No. I don’t think so.”

“I will verify.”

“I got the hotel details. I have a small suite, it’s two small rooms plus the meeting area. Dalton has a larger suite for him. The others will be in rooms on the same floor I’m told.”

“And… Me?” He couldn’t hide the surprise, this was new. He’d always been issued the room either directly beside or across from hers.

“The second room in my suite.” She finally stopped the obvious delaying tactics. “Okay. I think I’m ready to head home and finish packing.” Blake felt himself exhale in relief. He’d been a firm twenty seconds from forcibly removing her from the building.

“I’ll see you this evening then, Ma’am.” He turned to shepherd her out. He knew all too well the kinds of trouble that could be had in the distance between her office and the elevator.

“Will you be riding to the airport with me?”

“Yes. I made arrangements with you motorcade about it. We’ll be by your place at four for you.”

“Okay. I only ask because Henry had said he wanted to talk to you first.” She answered as she stepped into the elevator and the doors shut. Staring at his own reflection, Blake wondered what on earth Henry wanted that couldn’t be shared over the phone.

==

Henry had waved him into the back of the house as soon as the SUVs pulled up. “Yes?” He questioned.

Blake startled when Henry took his hand and pressed something hard into it. “Her anxiety pills. She says she’s fine making this trip, but I’m nervous.” They had been essentially grounded in the weeks since the whole Iran thing, part of that was by natural cycles. Travel wasn’t a regular part of their routine after all, but also because he and Nadine had attempted to keep their schedules as low key as the radar would allow. It was Blake’s personal opinion that the fact they hadn’t been busted was a testament to the dept of the problem.

“I’ll be at her side this time.” He heard himself redundantly answer.

“I know.” Blake felt Henry pat his arm. “She has the calming music; she has everything she should need. If you can talk her into doing the meditation, that would help.”

“Getting _her_ to meditate stresses _me_ out.”

Henry laughed. “My phone will always be on but…”

“But she and I will be four thousand miles away.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I have an eight-hour flight to determine if this will be an epic disaster or not.” Blake turned, pushing the bottle of pills into his inside pocket. “Have a good couple days, Henry.”

“You too, Blake.”

He led the way to the front; Elizabeth was already hovering near the open doorway and she looked up and past him. He stepped to the side as Henry pulled her back into the house a step to say their goodbyes. He heard them kiss, and then Henry’s soft. “Be safe.”

He made it to the bottom of the steps and turned back. She was still in his arms, smiling up at Henry. “I will be.”

==

It was a balance, doing his job, be invisible and visible in turns. It wasn’t like diplomatic security, their jobs generally were to be a pretty visible barrier, or Matt and Jay, who were meant to work to the side, in the shadows. Instead, he moved between the two. On the plane, it was much the same.

Any time they traveled there was a pattern, the first part of the trip was logistics, running over details and keeping with updates. He always felt like this was his time. He tucked away in the periphery of conversations, keeping up with emails and paperwork as the others did their thing. He observed.

Eventually though, they all split off, meals were served out, and the business-like feel of the cabin settled into something more relaxed. It was at that point that Blake moved to sit directly next to Elizabeth.

“How are you doing?” He leaned in so the question wasn’t overheard by the others. When she looked up at him, he could see the answer in the tight lines in her face. “Here.” His hand tucked into his inside pocket and produced the orange bottle.

“No.” She shook her head.

He studied her a moment, torn in his loyalties. He had promised Henry, and really himself and her as well if he was honest, but she was also a capable adult. “Are you upset because of the flight or because of Greece?” He decided to back off the direct approach. Pushing would only build up frustration on both sides and that wasn’t what this trip needed.

“Greece.” She answered, though it held no confidence. “I think.”

“We have six hours, give or take, you will need to sleep.” He pursed his lips together. “I know you don’t like how they make you feel, but on the plane there’s no need to worry about being a little loopy.”

“Loopy? Really?” She stared down at her food. “Fine.”

He popped the cap and passed her a pill. “I promise to keep an eye out.”

“Thank you.”

After dinner, Blake followed her into the private office. It wasn’t anywhere close to the size of her normal office, but it had a small desk and a couch on one side that folded out. Generally, when they travelled, it was a space shared by most of the staff as it provided a quiet place for calls plus additional reprieve when press travelled with them. He busied himself making sure her smaller bags were secured and then began to leave.

“Blake.” She was already laying on the sofa, her shawl tossed across her.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“What if it all goes wrong?”

The tone was much too introspective for him to even take a guess, so he decided to take the easy way out. An answer for all possibilities. “Then we’ll deal with it.”

==

Seated on the end of his bed and frowning at the floor, he mentally berated himself. He’d had _one job_ to get information out of the guys at the bar and he’d blown it. So much for doing his job. He heard the others leave the sitting room and the noise dropped to nothing. If anyone had stayed behind, the thick carpeting did a good job of hiding footsteps.

“Hey.” Her voice made his startle. His head snapped up and she was watching him from the doorway, a teasing smile playing on her lips.

“I am sorry.” He poured as much sincerity as he could into the words.

“I forgive you.” He nearly relaxed until he caught the sound of her chuckle. It was probably a good sign she could laugh about his misery; it gave him enough confidence to believe he hadn’t just tanked his career.

“And you think my plight is funny.” He arched a brow at her and watched her try to pull herself together and fail.

“No! Well, yes. But only because I know you. I am the one who should be sorry, Blake. It’s bad of me to laugh.” He watched her try to fight smiling. “Look, you did a wonderful job on the undercover part, I appreciate all you did.”

“Thank you.”

“And I’ll make sure any covert ops in the future are in place with free bathrooms.”

He narrowed his eyes at her which only made her laugher grow. He’d be more irritated, but after the past month and a half, it was good to see her laugh so hard, even if it was at his expense. He let her laugh for a while. When she wound down with the jokes, he smiled. “It’s good to hear you laugh.” He had only meant to think it to himself, but it slipped out.

She paused, seeming to consider the random statement. “It feels good.” She shifted, leaning against the frame. “Hey, I have to go deal with Dalton now, but I’ll be back and maybe we can find some sinful dessert around this place. It would be a waste of a trip if we didn’t find something good to eat.”

“Sounds good. I’m going to shower and sleep.” He motioned to the bed, hoping it wouldn’t case a problem if he crashed out in the middle of the day. A night in the clink hadn’t exactly been restful. On his own again after she left, Blake sent a message to the DS agents asking to be notified ahead if MSec was going off property and then he sagged into the shower to scrub jail off himself, before finally crawling up his bed and sprawling out on his stomach.

==

Blake made it to the dining room for a somewhat late lunch, meeting up with Nadine and the others, the former of which kept shooting him disappointed looks. No one had heard from the President or Secretary since they’d went and crashed Germany’s meeting. Half of their job fell under ‘ _no news is good news_ ’, so they took it as a temporary win.

Midafternoon, he got a text that Jay and Nadine had been called into a meeting with POTUS and their boss, sending Matt and Daisy to start drafting words for speeches and press releases, their plan had worked and POTUS had rallied under the Secretary’s pressing and had managed to stave off economic disaster. As a guy who started his career in finance, it was a cause he saw the worth of.

He was checking to see how the stock markets were reacting to all the uncertainty when the door clicked open.

“You’re up.” He could hear the surprise. It was fairly late, the sun had long since set.

“Except for my excursion as a frat boy, exactly what was the point of me coming on this trip?” He joked, looking up at her only to see the crestfallen look on her face. “What happened?” He was on his feet, the stock markets totally gone from his mind.

“I talked to Stevie. It’s, she’s fine. She’s… friends with the President’s son, Harrison. He’s… not fine. Of course, her telling me saved the talks, so I guess I should be thankful but…” She seemed to collapse in, dropping onto a chair. “I have these three great kids who I have put through so much.” She rubbed her thumb and fingers together. “Anyway. POTUS is leaving now, we’re still heading out as normal tomorrow.”

“Okay. What is the plan for tonight then?”

“Well, I thought I’d let Matt and Jay have their night out on the town. I told them to go do whatever, have fun. I’m sure Daisy and Nadine are joining them, though Nadine is probably only going to make sure we get them back.” She looked up. “You should go too. You did good work on the intel; you deserve to go have some real fun that isn’t a covert op.”

Several thoughts went through his mind, one of which was that it was clear she wasn’t not going out as well, which was probably as much by design- he doubted DS would approve such a trip; as it was by resignation- a lot had gone down over the past couple days. Picking up the phone he’d tossed aside when she’d come in, he tracked down the others and learned they were all going out together. As he typed, she vanished into her own room. After a string of comments back and forth, he begged off and kicked his heels up on the table in front of him.

Eventually, Elizabeth reappeared. “You’re still here?”

“I wasn’t up for another night of raucous drinking.”

“Okay. Then how about you escort me to dinner?”


	18. Walk It Back

“What says I’m sorry for freaking out and saying horrible, hurtful things?”

Blake halted in Jay’s doorway. Jay had messaged and asked him to come. “What?”

Jay waved him in and to sit. “My swap fell apart.”

“I know.” He drew out as he settled into a chair.

“That was the nicest part of my meeting with the secretary. I’d spent hours and hours on getting this deal put together and when I went in there, she just…” He waved a hand toward the hall. “She just appeared so passive about it. This man is about to die and she’s handshaking the man who is not stopping it.” He leaned against the desk. “Then I guess… I just wanted a rise out of her. I lashed out.”

“At the secretary?”

“Yeah.”

“And you still have a job?” He asked in disbelief.

“For now. I just…the details of how someone, not just someone, this man, whose family I’ve spoken to, dies from stoning. I’d researched it, I spelled it out for her.”

“You do remember she used to be on the ground in the Middle East.”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “That wasn’t the worst of it.” He shook his head. “I was on a roll; she had engaged my argument, telling me she understood… and my anger just wanted an outlet and then I said something…I’m not proud of it. The first part, I stand behind that. And really, that part didn’t get more than a token rise. But… I crossed a line that I don’t think I can walk back.”

Blake simply waited, he wasn’t even going to try and guess.

“I suggested we should have let the coup happen.”

His breath left him like he’d been punched. “You mean the coup that nearly killed her?”

Jay only nodded.

“Okay.” He leaned forward. “I really don’t even know where to start here. You were angry and looking for a fight, so you picked a fight with our boss? I mean, I suppose if you’re looking for someone who will give as good as they get, she’s a good candidate, but…”

“In retrospect it was a bad choice, I know.”

“And then to dredge up the one event that you know is a major trigger.” Blake frowned. “I would’ve fired you.”

“So, what do I do?”

“Time. Space. I think you might be right; you can’t walk that back.”

Jay huffed, moving from the front of his desk to his seat. “If I can’t walk it back, then how to I go forward?”

He thought a minute before asking a question of his own. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because you’re the one who can tell me where not to step. You’re the one who knows her well enough to be able to tell me if I should be updating my resume.”

“Fine. There are some other things happening, things not directly connected to State. It may take a few weeks, until then, lay low. Once I think everything is evening out, I’ll let you know when and how to move next. Just… don’t grovel. If she didn’t fire you on the spot, then she wants to move past it.”

“Thanks Blake.”

“Don’t thank me yet.”


	19. Protocols, Part 1

One

Blake rushed to collect the most important documents from the table so he could rush out of the room. He’d been helping Jay and Matt put together a plan, any plan, for getting China back on board before the whole deal, and likely the country they were in, blew up around them.

The world was on a hair trigger.

They’d pulled an all nighter, somehow ended up with the guys sequestered in one room with Nadine and Daisy working from another. Their boss had rotated between video calls and physically finding Chen in person and bodily halting his departure so they could talk. Blake had already heard about _that_ particular moment from Keith from detail.

Now, they were racing through the halls, determined to get to the conference area in time to hand over the revised-for-the-sixteenth-time plans, plus the speech that Matt had nearly yanked his hair out to finish. The speech had gone through roughly four revisions for every treaty change, eventually Matt had thrown his pencil across the room and dug in to help Jay just get things done, citing no point on bothering with the speech until there was something to speak about.

Skidding around the corner into the hall that led to the right room, they nearly collided with Daisy. “We have a problem.”

“No, no, no problems.” Jay panted, holding his side. “No more problems. Treaty, speech, bed. That order. No problems.”

“Treaty? Maybe. Speech? Not happening. Bed?” She made a pained noise.

“What? Wait! Why no speech?” Jay was clearly trying to catch up.

“No sleep, no breakfast.”

They all squinted, trying to follow.

“Dinner?” Matt wondered; he couldn’t remember when any of them last ate.

Daisy shrugged. “Nadine’s with her, trying to assess the severity.” The men suddenly realized they were missing their Chief of Staff. “No speech.”

“There has to be a speech.”

“Where are they.” Jay interrupted Matt from saying more.

“This way.” She rushed through the growing crowds, taking them to a small room tucked out of the way, Nadine standing at the door.

“We need to do better.” The older woman stated by way of greeting, her voice pitched low. “How did none of us catch over twenty-four hours without eating?” They all exchanged looks and she sighed. “It’s a problem.”

“How much of a problem?” Jay pressed.

“We might be able to get her through the signing without incident, but standing up for a speech? She’s lightheaded and feels like her heart is racing. I have serious concerns that she’ll drop like a hot rock up there.”

“So, what do we do?”

They all watched her debate. “We could lie.” She glanced back into the room. “I mean, she looks bad enough to convince Chen and the others she’s taken ill.”

“What will that change? As far as all of this?” Blake couldn’t help but ask.

“I can sign on her behalf, Jay can do the speech.”

“I can start talking to contacts about getting this to blow over quietly.” Daisy offered. “’Came down sick’ is much more boring and will blow over faster than ‘didn’t remember to eat or sleep’.”

“Go do that. Matt, help her. Jay and I’ll go deal with Chen and everyone else. We need all the luck we can get.”

“And, what about me?” Blake waved his hand a bit.

“See what you can do to fix this and then come up with ideas of how to make it not happen again.” She huffed.

==

Blake sat in the desk chair and waited patiently. Once the attendees had filed into the ballroom, he’d carefully helped Elizabeth up to their rooms, she’d swayed dangerously when he’d gotten her to her feet. Now, he sat and watched her curled up on the bed while he waited for room service to turn up. Searching the desk, he found blank paper and jotted down some notes, thinking of the types of snacks his boss liked, quick and easy things to eat, he’d work on buying them and keeping them on hand.

By the time room service arrived, he had multiple lists made from research he’d done on his phone. Rearranging the tray, he collected orange juice first and took it to the bedside, giving her arm a shake to wake her up. “Ma’am. I have some juice.”

“I’m not sure I can drink anything right now.”

“It will make you feel better.”

She blinked her eyes open before squeezing them back shut. “In a minute.”

He frowned, mentally reviewing what he’d read online. Steeling himself, he tried to make his voice sound authoritative. “I need you to sit up and drink this. Now. The alternate is something more is wrong, and we need to make a trip to the hospital, which there will be coverage of, and the news will spin it that you are weak.” His words seemed to work, she pushed herself up so she was leaning against the headboard.

“Give.”

He passed her the glass and waited. “I ordered food as well.”

==

“Well?” Nadine asked as soon as the door opened, looking up at him expectantly.

Blake huffed. “Give me a second.” He stepped back into the room to tell Elizabeth he’d be back, snatched the key card, and then stepped into the hall. “I got her to drink a full glass of orange juice; was a little worried it wouldn’t stay, but eventually she started picking on the food as well.”

“That’s good.” Her lips pressed together as she considered. “I feel like this is our fault somehow. I know, our schedules are so crazy that remembering what time it is gets hard.” She drew in a deep breath. “We should have seen it.”

“I had a thought.” He glanced toward the closed door. “I was doing research while I waited and made some lists, would it be crazy for me to just pack snacks?”

“I don’t think that sounds crazy.”

He pulled out his phone. “I have a list I found for quick sugar boost, one for things to avoid normally; there was a lot of information, I wrote down some notes on symptoms to watch out for.”

“What about a list of comfort foods? I don’t know about you, but some days I just need a bowl of tomato soup.”

“But that varies for everybody. I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“Ask her?” He balked but she carried on. “She was raised in Virginia, that’ll give you some clues. But we can just ask questions in conversation and I’m sure she’d answer without really realizing.”

“Okay. I had one other thing? How fast do you think I would get fired if I took it upon myself to make her eat?”

“Not fast at all, if you do it right. If you think it’ll help avoid another today, I’m all in favor, I’m sure the others will be too.”

==

After they’d arrived back in DC, Nadine swept through and asked them to all join her for a drink after work. They assembled later at a pub. “So.” She started. “I think this was one of the most worrisome trips ever. It’s a big deal that we have her, untested in the political area, young, _woman_ , she can’t have another event like this. We need to pay better attention.” Matt started to say something, judging by his face, it was going to be an objection of some sort. Nadine cut him off. “It is our job, because we are the senior staff. Now. Blake put in a lot of work coming up with ideas, but one he mentioned I think we all can pitch in on. Having food on hand.”

“Like, snacks?” Matt finally got out.

“Snacks. Meals. Look, I asked around and I can handle bringing morning pastries into the office. I stop for coffee most days anyway. A few times I’ve met her at the elevator with one of her own or a muffin of some kind when I had an update she needed. We can make that a thing?” Blake questioned.

“How do we keep track?” Daisy asked.

“Blake had a plan for that too. Literally add notes to the calendar of when to fit in every meal, when to take food through. It’ll be his job as the gatekeeper, but we have to figure out an unobtrusive way to make sure we don’t lose track of time.”

“What about code?” Jay set down his glass. “An asterisk for mealtimes, maybe an octothorpe for something else?” Everyone stared at him. “What?”

“What’s an octothorpe?” Matt asked what they all were thinking.

“A- uh, it’s a pound sign. A number sign, you know?”

“I did not know it had a name.” Daisy shook her head.

“Well, see. Learned something.”

“Am I making symbols of the schedule then?” Blake went back to the topic at hand.

They all agreed.

==

Two

Jay stood, hands folded in front of himself, and waited as the ceremony continued. The staff was turned out for a Fourth of July event, given issues the administration had been having recently, it was decided that a little publicity from the country’s favorite diplomat couldn’t hurt. When the first mortars for the fireworks display began to go off, he caught the way his boss flinched. Another mortar and she tensed visibly. He’d seen it before, during his time in and after the military, fireworks were a big trigger sometimes for vets. The next mortar went off and she gasped, spurring him into motion. “Ma’am.” He touched her arm and she jolted. “This way.”

Jay looked for a private space, only finding a temporarily closed off eating area, it didn’t do a whole lot for blocking the noise though of the fireworks display. “Here.” He dug his phone out and unwound the headphones. “Put them on.” He scrolled the screen, looking for anything that could drown out the sounds. “You’re safe.” He pulled another chair over so he could sit close. “You’re safe.”

It didn’t take too many minutes before Blake stuck his head in, Jay waved at him to keep quiet as he stood and moved to the side to join him. From the chair, Elizabeth was now making a humming sound, as an attempt to distract herself further or to try and manage the stress response, he wasn’t sure. “The fireworks.” He offered as explanation.

“Oh. That makes sense, I guess.”

“I had my headphones, pulled up my relaxing playlist.” Jay sucked in a breath and let it gust out. “I’ve seen it before, in vets, it’s brutal. Not that she’ll ever admit it, but the best thing is to avoid triggers. I mean, therapy is tantamount, but avoidance is important. Otherwise you’re just thrown back into that moment over and over again.”

“I- Maybe I should have said something? Last week we had that reenactment and she seemed to get really anxious about that.” He thought hard. “She gets the same way when Russell barges into her office too.”

“Yeah, well, that’s not surprising. I think we need to sit down together and see if anyone else has seen anything.” Jay crossed his arms and looked back to where Elizabeth sat, eyes shut. “I know anxiety and PTSD can be separate beasts, but they can also be tied up together.”

==

They were in a different pub this time, the holiday making their usual haunt too crowded. It was Jay who started them off, looping the other three fully into things before asking for ideas.

“We can’t prevent every trigger.” Matt pointed out. “Someone drops a glass, how to we stop that?”

“True. But we can prevent the things that we know will be triggers. There’s another event tomorrow, we can have a reason we have to leave before the fireworks start.” Jay responded. “We just need to pay attention. When we’re scheduling appearances, we have to ask the questions about pyrotechnics, fireworks… Military displays. The music helped today, some people use noise cancelling headphones.”

“I have no problem downloading music to my phone.” Daisy offered. “Or we could have something that’s just music.”

“You know.” Nadine finally joined in after much contemplation. “If we’re going to do this- we’ve talked before about food issues and now we’re talking about managing these symptoms, are there any others? Wouldn’t it be more expedient if we hashed out what needs done to stop all of the anxiety and stress? The stuff we can manage anyway.”

“Like… protocols at the office?” Daisy condensed.

“Something like that, yeah.”

“Well.” Blake thought out loud. “We came up with how to prevent fainting from not eating, which I think we’ve kept up on wonderfully.” They’d been at it over a year and, so far, there hadn’t been any further incidents. “So that’s one. Avoiding loud, surprise noises would be two. I’ll do better at heading off Russell Jackson. I have some other ideas, based on my own comings and goings, of what we could watch out for or manage. Sleep is a big one; I know we sometimes pull all nighters, but we still need to pay attention to her getting rest.”

“That sounds do-able. I mean, letting her get pushed to the point of exhaustion, she wouldn’t be able to do her job.” Nadine agreed.

“What about the list?” Daisy looked between them, surprised when the men seemed confused. “Really, guys? Are you trying to tell me you don’t know about the list?”

“I thought that list was a myth!” Matt raised his hands defensively. “There’s really a list of which men women need to avoid?”

“I think it’s at a size where it’s classified as a document.” Nadine filled in. “I’m aware of it, without OCR doing their job, it’s the best we can do to stay safe.”

“Suddenly I’m highly disgusted with men.” Jay show his head. “So, do we tell her about the list?”

“Either she knows and feels it can’t impact her work, or she doesn’t know. But she can’t exactly avoid those people without reason. Which means, some of them anyway, will get their chance with her eventually.”

“So, what do we do if we know there’s a problem?” Matt picked back up.

They all exchanged looks. “Well.” Nadine shrugged one shoulder. “We can make a list and tell one another when we see a problem. Just like the protocols for everything else. Our own, internal, protocols.”

“And call them what?” Daisy leaned in.

“We need a code word.” Matt picked at the food between them.

“Blue.” Jay offered. “Diplomatic Security code named her Bluebird, we could take from that and call them Blue. And we have, what, three or four now?”

“Uhh… four.” Nadine helped.

“So we do just like the official ones, we give each issue a number. If more things come up, they just tack onto the list.”

“Should I be writing this down?” Matt wondered aloud.

“No.” Blake jumped back in. “Nothing written. It’s got to stay secret. One is food, two is… the loud or sudden noises, the triggers, three is the sleep thing. We stay aware, we plan ahead, we research how to mitigate.”

“Four is the list.” Daisy pointed out.

“Right. Four is keeping an eye on the men that I’m sure Daisy and Nadine will share with us. If she has to interact with any of them, we’ll just find an excuse for it to be a supervised interaction.”

“You know, there’s another one we should add. As a father, I think it might be a good balance.” Jay rested his arms on the table. “Family time. Have you noticed how she gets when she’s away a few days? It’s hard being away from your family, your kids. I think sometimes if we could just get them on the phone or maybe make sure she doesn’t miss something; it would be good.”

“So, if she looks sad, we get her family?” Daisy asked. When he started to elaborate, she nodded and waved. “No, I get what you mean. If she’s missing them or worried about them, it’s a distraction. That shouldn’t be hard to fix.”

==

Three

“Blake!”

He rushed from his desk to the doorway. “Ma’am?”

She sank back into her seat with a heavy sigh. “We have to go to the White House.”

“We? Ma’am?”

“Yeah. Can you find Jay.” She rubbed her eyes roughly, making him wince. “I need to know if this plan to strongarm Russia is going to work or not.”

“You-” He hesitated, glancing out as if he would be able to see Jay through the walls. “You mean China? Ma’am?”

“Yeah… What’d I say?”

“Russia.”

“Oh.” She yawned. “Either way, can you ask him about… it?”

Blake knew exactly where Jay was, flat on his back in his office. Asleep. The same place he’d been for the last two hours. “And why are we headed to the White House?”

“I’m needed in the sitroom. This crisis is starting to explode and if we can’t reign Russia in, it’s going to be war by morning.”

He frowned at the repeat of the error. “Reign China in?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“They need you to advise on a response to China? Now?”

She pressed both hands flat on her desk and stood. “Kinda the job, Blake.”

“Stay here, I’ll grab Jay.” He rushed through the hall, shaking his friend awake. “You are needed in the sitroom.”

“Me?” He asked while dutifully following Jay back. “Why me?”

“Because MSec is so exhausted she keeps saying Russia instead of China. She wanted your advice, but you need to help me convince her that you have to go in her place.” He led the way back into the inner office. “Ma’am?”

“Jay, just the guy. Can you look this over quickly and see if you think it will work?” She held out a sheet of paper. “Things are heating up; this may be our last chance to cool them down.”

“Sure.” He took a seat, Blake took the other, and looked over the form. “You typed this up yourself?”

“Yeah.”

Jay frowned and then held the sheet over so Blake could see it. It wasn’t as cohesive as usual. “I could make some quick changes and then run over to the White House. Overall, I don’t see there being an issue with getting this agreed on though.”

“Why would you go?”

The men exchanged a look. “Frankly, Ma’am, you’re not in any condition right now to be advising on a hot situation like this.”

“Excuse me?”

“You need sleep, Ma’am. Your abilities are taking a hit, judgement, processing… You need to stay here.” He watched her round the desk to object, bumping a cup, making it teeter dangerously until Jay lunged out to stop it from spilling. With one hand, Blake slipped his phone out of his pocket, Nadine was still in the building as well, hopefully she was close by. ‘blue protocol three.’ He typed before shooting Jay a look.

==

Four

‘Blue four’ popped up on Blake’s phone. He and Jay were out to lunch attempted to convince a tech exec to release information to help them negotiate with Korea. He looked up in time to see Jay checking his as well. “Is Matt there?”

“Uh.” Jay squinted as he thought. “I think he had that thing today, the writers symposium.” He glanced back down at Nadine’s message and texted back ‘who?’

Three dots appeared only a second before a reply popped up. ‘Federmore. Already on 7.’

Both men stood together, thanking the exec for his time before rushing back to Jay’s car. “Why is Federmore at State?” He asked Blake.

“I have no idea. He wasn’t on the schedule.” Blake took over texting Nadine and reading her replies. “She says he turned up unannounced. She was in room B with the Ventin family and saw him come in. MSec wasn’t in her office at first, he sat in wait. Just went in.”

Jay pulled into the garage, stopping at the elevators. “You go up, I’ll park and follow.”

Blake nodded, darting out and to the bank of doors. Once the elevator opened onto seven, he tried to look like he wasn’t running as he rushed to his desk, drew a calming breath, then picked up a black folder and moved to the door. “Madam Secretary.” He spoke as the door pulled open. “There’s an urgent situation…” He trailed off as if he hadn’t realized he was interrupting. “I’m so sorry.” He looked between his boss and Federmore. Both were on the sofa, Blake could tell by the body language alone that Federmore was living up to the rumors Nadine had heard. “You’re needed at the White House, Ma’am.”

She gave him a confused look and stood, moving to behind her desk casually, though Blake thought it looked more like evasion. She put her hand out for the folder. Blake swallowed, hoping she would simply understand. “Let’s see what they need now. Have you called down to my detail?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He nervously handed over the folder and watched her open it, staring at what he knew was a sheet of blank white paper before bringing her eyes up to meet his. He glanced toward Federmore before giving her a nearly imperceptible nod. Before either of them could speak, Jay materialized in the doorway and she snapped the folder shut, passing it back.

“Good, Jay, Blake already filled you in I see. Thank you for getting back so quickly. You’re going to have to come as well.” She was around the desk again and headed for where he stood. “Mister Federmore, I’m so sorry, duty calls. If you give Blake your information, he’ll schedule you a time when you can come back.” Jay had stepped aside and fell in line beside her.

“Downstairs, Ma’am?” Jay whispered. “Detail is on standby.”

“Let’s go.” She didn’t speak again until they were safely in the elevator. “Weren’t you and Blake having lunch with that CEO?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

She turned and studied him until the doors opened on the lower level. “Then how did you know Federmore turned up? He wasn’t on the schedule.”

“Ma’am.” He gave her a knowing smile and shook his head as they climbed into the SUV and waited.

“And how did you know what he was going to do?”

“Do? Ma’am?”

“You’re been exceptionally evasive you know.”

He sighed and started to answer, but the door popped open again and Blake climbed in, shutting the door and making them crowd together.

“Blake?”

“Yes?” He turned his best doe eyes at her.

Suspicion and amusement washed over her face. “Explain yourself.”

“It’s classified.” He exchanged a brief look with Jay.

“Classified?”

“Yes.” His phone pinged. “The coast is clear; we can go back up.” Desperate to avoid questions, he bolted from the SUV.


	20. At The Top

His coworkers were filing out of the oval office ahead of him when he heard her call out again. “Blake, stay.”

He turned back, moving to a couch when she motioned for him to sit. “Are you okay?”

She took the couch across, leaning forward with her arms on her knees, head hung. “I haven’t a clue how to answer that.”

“I can understand that.”

Blake waited as she simply sat for several minutes. He could see she just needed this, a moment of peace. “Henry and the kids are on their way to the bunker, the president may be on a ghost flight that I may have to authorize shooting down, and I’m…” She shook her head and looked up at him.

“Alone.” He offered to finish.

“Yeah.” They lapsed back into silence for several minutes before he heard her draw in a fortifying breath. “And as much as I need you here, I also need you to go back.”

“Are you sure?”

“No.”

He stood anyway and made his way to the door, feeling her eyes on him as he moved. A thought crossed his mind and he hesitated, on hand on the doorknob. “One day.” He started. “One day we’ll all follow you into the room and we won’t have to leave it.”

“I never wanted this.”

“You will.” He nodded toward the desk. “I know you’re avoiding it. But try the view.” With that, he slipped out.

==

Blake didn’t see Elizabeth again until they met up at the economic forum. “Now I see why Henry told me to keep it simple.” He looked over her black dress.

“It looks okay?” She looked down at what she was wearing, which he could guess she’d done several times while getting ready. He took her coat and guided her toward the table.

“You look wonderful. You’ll shine on stage.”

“Blake…”

“Let’s eat and listen to some of the other delegates and take it one minute at a time.” He tried to aim for soothing.

“Fine.” He saw when she spotted Dalton coming in. “I’m going to go thank him for not being dead.”

Blake chuckled and followed her toward POTUS. As the pair talked, he kept just far enough away to allow privacy, but close enough to be of help should she need it. As the President walked away, he moved back to his place at her side. “Ma’am.” He really took her in as she drew in a deep breath. “You’re kind of a funny color… Are you okay?”

“I haven’t fainted in the longest time, what does it feel like?” Her hands nervously straightened the lapels of his tux and he could feel them shaking.

“Let’s find you some private space.” He looked around, heading her toward the closest side door where makeshift changing areas had been set up. By the time they got there, she was gasping. “Sit, please, before you fall.” He helped her find a seat. Searching, he found a bag and passed it to her, taking her glasses, so she could focus on breathing, her color not improving much. “Do you still feel faint?”

“I don’t know.”

“So that’s a yes. Can you not faint for a minute so I can get some water? I’m only going just over there.” He gestured through the doorway. She nodded frantically, which worried him, but he still went for a glass. Across the room he caught Nadine and Daisy’s eyes and just shook his head. There was no way their boss was going on stage like this. When he reentered the room, she was still gasping. “You need to focus on something calm.” Her eyes met his and he could see calm was perhaps a bridge to far already; the day had just been too much. “Close your eyes and think about being home with Henry.”

When Daisy and Nadine suddenly rushed in, he tried to wave them away, Elizabeth didn’t need the audience at the moment. They were far too eager to get ready to sing to pay attention until they’d already drawn the Secretary’s attention. He watched apprehensively as the pair tried to get her on board, and for a moment it looked like she might rally despite everything, but his boss dissolved in a fresh round of panic and he was almost ready to say to hell with the whole thing. “Give us a minute.” Blake urged them away. “I’ll be out in a minute.” He watched them go until it was just the two of them again. “Let me help you to the table, I’ll sing with Daisy and Nadine and you can watch.”

“Okay.” She nodded.

Blake knelt so he was facing her. “Do you want me to call Henry?” He calculated how long it would take Henry to turn up, it wouldn’t be hard to make an excuse to delay their singing for a bit.

“No. I’m okay. He’ll just worry.” His brows went up. “I’ll sit and watch, it’ll be fine.” He wanted to respond that she wasn’t, but instead he let it go. He knew he would’ve had more luck if the others hadn’t invaded the moment, but now, he knew from experience, she would be determined to prove she was fine.

“Your breathing hasn’t calmed and you’re shaking. I’m not sure… Daisy and Nadine can pull it off without me, I’m staying with you.” He knew the path of progress in these attacks by now, they were hell on the way up, but they were also hell on the way down.

“No, Blake, it’s bad enough I’m out. You go sing.” She stood quickly, swaying dangerously.

His hands shot out to catch her if she went down. “I’ll take you to the table.” Hands around her, Blake guided her to the table, leaning over to Jay on his way back to the others and bestowing him with the task to make sure she didn’t get up out of the chair.

Blake was certain it was the most nerve-wracking performance of his life. Singing with Nadine and Daisy had been fun, but the whole time he kept checking on her, ready to abandon his spot on stage at any sign of trouble. After their song finished, he headed straight back to the table and took the seat beside her, she was smiling now but her could see the undercurrent of frenetic energy. “I think it’s more than just the song.” He leaned in, keeping his voice below the next entertainment. “You were headed down this road today in the oval office.” After a couple beats, she nodded. Blake reached in his coat pocket and pulled out the bottle, shaking a single pill into her hand before hiding it back away.

“You always carry those?” She tried to tease.

“Yes.” He pressed the pill into her hand. “The day is over.”

==

As the motorcade pulled away, Blake stood shoulder to shoulder with his coworkers. “I think that was the longest day ever.”

“Standing in the oval office today…” Jay started and then trailed off.

“She looked good in there.” Nadine finished. “She says she doesn’t want it.”

“She deserves it.” Matt joined in. “We’ll get her there.”

“Today was one long panic attack.” Daisy added. A part of him was surprised any of them had caught that.

He huffed. “Can you blame her? She showed up at work as MSec, went to the sitroom only to hear one of her oldest friends might be dead, followed Russell Jackson into a room to swear in a senator as POTUS only to walk out of that room as POTUS.” He shifted to look along the line of his friends. “She was separated from her family all day as well as us, the two groups of people who are her touchstone through most days. Is it any wonder she finally broke down?” The group lapsed into silence in the darkness. It was Blake that finally broke it again. “Matt’s right, we can get her there, but it will take all of us stepping up our game.”

“She says she doesn’t want it.” Nadine repeated. “Do you have a plan?” She turned to Blake.

“To make sure she knows at every moment she’s not alone, she has us to turn to in confidence, and she has our full support.”


	21. Jay

Jay glanced to his left and couldn’t help the smile that flitted across his face. They had a forty-five-minute drive to their destination, forty-five minutes to find a plan every nation involved could live with, and right on cue his boss had settled back in her seat with her eyes closed.

In the early months of Secretary McCord being at the head of the State Department, Jay had struggled, comparing her regularly to Marsh, or even Cushing. Both men tended to blast and demand, insisting on being provided with as many ideas as possible. They seemed to thrive on sound. The first time Jay had walked into McCord’s office in the middle of a crisis and found her laying out on her couch, seemingly asleep, his first emotion had been anger. How, he wondered, could she be so calm at a time such as that? He didn’t feel bad then, rushing right into speaking, startling her so she sat upright, fumbling for her glasses. He’d thought it was the right thing to do, crises were noisy. She never said a word to him about it, simply moved on with what needed done and he thought it had been a non-issue, that she understood after that that sleeping on the job wasn’t to be done.

He’d been the one to learn his lesson, later, a different crisis, a different location. He’d thought she was asleep again; it had been the first time he’d seen her rest in the motorcade. Ten minutes had ticked by before she’d suddenly sat up, stating without preamble a solution to their problem. When he’d given her a confused look, she’d smiled and given him a Lou Tzu quote before rolling her eyes and apologizing for channeling Henry. He’d learned since then that she knew many quotes about silence or stillness or being quiet, he wondered at times if Henry hadn’t taught them to her as a way to encourage her to be calm. Jay had learned, by then, that those moments were exceedingly rare.

Now. Now, as he watched her with her eyes closed, he knew her stillness wasn’t weakness. Before they arrived, she’d have one or more solutions to the problem at hand. As he shifted his gaze from his boss to the clouds out his window, he tried to recall another quote he’d heard in the years since she’d taken over. Something about being at your most powerful when you were silent, that people are ready for motion, a fight, words, never silence. It was a fitting quote, whatever it was.


	22. Nadine

Nadine let her book fall shut and took in the plane with a sigh. The trip had been hard, harder than had been planned. But what was easy about having to attempt a hostage negotiation when it was your own side that was holding the hostage. It was one of those trips where she wasn’t sure what emotion was the best response and she was thankful for the space to work it out.

Often when they travelled, it was the full staff, or most of them, plus the gaggle and a fleet of diplomatic security; not counting the staff for the plane. Today there was no gaggle, there were no other staffers chattering as they always did; the few DS agents were sequestered in the back and she wasn’t sure where the plane crew were. It felt as if they were well and truly alone.

She turned to look across the cabin. Nadine could appreciate that her boss liked her solitude, she did as well, but there was something about that feeling of being so alone that compelled them, with all the space in the world, to sit across the aisle from one another. Perhaps, she wondered, her boss also felt it was a comfort to be able to see someone else was alive too.

Today, her boss was resting, she wasn’t surprised, a book of her own abandoned on the table. Over the years, she’d learned that in the times Elizabeth looked most calm, she was usually busy thinking. After this one, there was a lot to think about. A part of her wondered if now would be a good time to have that talk, share a bit of herself like Elizabeth had suggested. They had the time; it was a long flight home.

Thoughts turned to the many trips she’d made with Vincent, the talks they’d had when they were alone for all those hours. In all that talking, it turned out she’d hadn’t known him at all; the noise had covered secrets and lies. Silence now, by contrast, seemed to feel like a shared experience, like there was understanding in it. She let her mind wander under the engine sounds.


	23. Misstep

Blake was laid out on the couch, an arm over his eyes. He had screwed up spectacularly. He had one job and now he was stuck in the Embassy, unable to do it. In Russia of all places.

“You majorly screwed up.” Nadine’s voice made him jump. “You have to fix this.”

“Daisy said to leave it to her.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

He lifted his arm to look up at her. “I don’t understand.”

“Blake.” She sighed, sitting on the coffee table. “When Marsh was secretary, I had my job, but I also had another job. I was the steady person he could turn to when he needed to just talk it out, yell, be frustrated… Cry. Obviously, it went further than that, but my point is still the same. You’re the guy in the shadows, the one who is always in her corner. Now, you’re the one who has added to her pain, to the difficulty of this already difficult situation. Who does she have to turn to?”

“She called Doctor McCord.”

“But there are things even he can’t know. And he’s not here, in the moment. He’s once a day for three or four minutes. When we’re abroad.”

He sat up, wiping a hand over his face. “What should I do?”

“Stop the pity party for starters. She’s already forgiven you.”

“How do you know?”

“You’re still in Moscow, aren’t you?” She asked, pointedly.

“Yeah.”

“Look. She must move forward, so right now, you must as well. Once we’re back in DC, you can grovel.”

“Okay.” He nodded.

“Start with some food. While you were in here wallowing, she skipped lunch to meet with the generals, if she’s going to make it through the funeral without passing out, she needs fed.” Nadine stood. “Last thing we need is for the world to decide she’s weak because she fainted. Or for the widow to think she’s stealing her moment.”


	24. It's A Hit

“Wait, you can’t play baseball?”

Blake glanced at Jason with an embarrassed grin. “Sports weren’t really a thing I was ever into.”

“How?” The shock at the notion was obvious in his voice. “Sports are awesome!”

“Calm down, Jace.” Henry laughed. “So, Blake’s never been into sports. He’s into lots of things that you’re not.” They were walking together toward a batting cage.

“Like what? What is there besides sports?”

“Music.” Henry answered again before Blake could speak for himself. “Blake’s an amazing and accomplished musician.”

He felt himself blush again. “Thank you.”

“But does it get you girls?”

Blake exchanged a look with Henry. “Yes. I can say it definitely is something that wins dates.”

Jason laughed. “Okay, okay, music is fine then. I guess. Better than being all brainy about books.” He tossed a look at his dad.

“Hey! I won over your mom being brainy about books!” He shot back good naturedly. “It was the only way to catch her attention, she was always lost in one.” They watched Jason take a few tries in the cage. “Don’t count books out for getting girls.”

When he swapped with his dad, Jason shook his head. “Sports are still better. Girls love the muscles and stuff.”

“Girls love personality.” Henry tried to correct.

Jason turned to Blake. “What do you think?”

“Me?” He was surprised to be put on the spot.

Jason shrugged. “Tell him he’s wrong. It’s not just personality, you have to have skills. I mean, maybe not muscles all the time.” He waved his hand, gesturing to Blake. “But skills.”

Blake arched one brow, glancing to Henry with a grin before looking back at the teen. “Are you implying I don’t have muscles?”

“Are you implying you do? Tell me, do you get more girls with your wonderful personality or your abilities?”

“Uh… I like to think my personality in my off time is very lovely, thank you very much, but the music doesn’t hurt. People have never complained about either.”

“You’re up.” Jason said.

“What?” The topic shift surprised him.

“At bat. You’re up.”

“Wait, I have to take a turn too?”

“We came to the batting cages; what did you think we were going to do?” Jason teased.

Blake looked to Henry for help, but he was holding out a bat. “I clearly failed to read the fine print.” With a huff, he took the bat and stepped in. “No pictures!”

“No promises!”

Much to everyone’s surprise, Blake managed to hit some of the balls. After they were done, the trio found their way to the concession stand. Henry went to get their food while Jason and Blake waited at a table.

“You know, way back when, the first time Dad told me you were going to hang out with us, I thought he was nuts. I’m glad you come though, kind of like how it’s Ali and Stevie who go together to do stuff with Mom.”

“Honestly? The first time he told me I was coming, I thought he was nuts too.”

“Wait, he didn’t ask you?”

Blake grinned. “No. I believe his exact words were it was for my own good.”

“He tells me that a lot. It’s annoying when he’s right.” Jason looked around. “Check it.” His eyes darted to the side.

Following his gaze, Blake glanced around the room and then in the direction Jason had looked, spotting a group of girls smiling at them.

“Some of them go to my school, be cool.” Jason rushed as the girls started walking their way. “Hey, Jamie.” He smiled.

“Jason.” The girl leading the group answered. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Blake. He’s, ah-”

Assessing the ways the situation could spin in a second, Blake jumped in. “His cousin.” He caught the grin on Jason’s face.

“Yeah, just my cousin, he’s cool.”

Another girl took a seat beside Blake. “Is he an athlete too?”

Jason’s grin only grew. “Nah, he’s a musician.”

Henry turned away from the counter two minutes later and froze. A group of girls now surrounded Jason and Blake, the latter of whom at least looked appropriately uncomfortable with the amount of attention. Taking a seat near the counter, Henry worked on his own food as he watched Jason lap up the affections of the girls.

==

On the way back to the house, Jason finally asked. “Why’d you say you were my cousin?”

“Well, they’d know you were lying right away if you used brother, your family’s much too well known for that. And any version of parent’s anything, assistant, staff, whatever, was going to make it sound like I was there to look after you. Cousin is safely boring enough to be forgotten.”

“I never would’ve thought of that.”

He chuckled. “That’s what a Harvard education gets you.”

“You made an awesome wingman.”

“Don’t!” Henry finally interjected from the driver’s seat. “Don’t get any ideas. You are not going to drag Blake out to be your wingman.”

“But Dad! He was awesome! Those girls were eating up the music stuff! And! He has his own car.” Jason looked triumphant. “And you and Mom already trust him, and he isn’t one of her hulking security guards.”

“No, Jason.” Henry turned to Blake. “Do not let him talk you into doing this.”

“Come on, Dad!”

“So now my lack of muscles is a good thing?”

Henry chuckled. “He swung the other way on that pretty fast, didn’t he?”

“Tell you what, Jason. I know of a place, it’s sort of an underground thing. I’ll get you the address and once, only once, I will agree to get you there and back. I won’t be your wingman, but I will play vanishing chaperone. Once.”

“Wait. You serious?” Jason leaned forward so his head was between the front seats. “What kind of place is this?”

“It’s geared specifically for underage teens.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal. “I know people.”

“I didn’t know Georgetown had anything like that.”

“They don’t.”

Accepting he wasn’t getting anything else out of Blake right now, he sat back with a huff.

“You really don’t have to take him anywhere.”

“It’s no big deal, really.”


	25. Slow Day

Blake skidded into Nadine’s office. “Craig Sterling is bad.” He stated without preamble.

She looked up at him for a beat. “In any way in particular?”

“He’s got an agenda. He’s edging out MSec at meetings and rattling her.”

“You have proof?”

He held his hands out, an exasperated look on his face. “I can just tell. Okay? That’s literally a thing in my job description I’m supposed to be able to do.”

“I’ll do some digging.” She watched him a moment. “Blake? We know you care, it’s good you do. The rest of us have our own jobs, we can’t afford to care sometimes. I’m just sorry it might feel, to you, like you’re the only one. You’re not.” She waited for him to nod. “Go, let me know if something else happens with Sterling.”

==

Blake’s words echoed several hours later as they watched they boss retreat to her office, all the signs of her anxiety ramping up. Nadine halted him from following their boss into the office though. “I’ll take this one.”

Blake hovered near his desk. He trusted that Nadine knew what she was doing, she had skills in this business that he didn’t have and she was a woman, Blake had wondered from time to time if that didn’t leave him at a bit of a disadvantage.

“Is she still in there?” Daisy rushing through, tablet in hand, made him turn.

“Still with Nadine, status unknown.” He watched her frown. “What is it?”

“This.” She handed him the device. “Stevie and Harrison, they say there are more pictures.”

“We totally don’t need this today.” He near groaned. “Just. A few minutes won’t mess anything up.” They made small talk until they could hear Nadine’s voice at a more normal volume through the door.

Moments after Daisy went in, Nadine was standing at his desk. “This is a conversation better not had at your desk.” She beckoned him toward the now empty conference room. “She looked rough, but she was rallying.”

“Rough, how rough?”

“Her breathing was mostly normal.” She met his eyes. “Hands were shaking.” They’d compared notes over recent weeks and had made some observations on the pattern of how their boss’s anxiety built. “Lunch and a little time to gather herself and I think she’ll be able to pull through, no changes to the schedule.” She waved to the wall shared with the office. “What had Daisy looking so on edge?”

“A crisis.”

“Threatening China _and_ Russia with war isn’t enough?” She sounded incredulous.

“Sex pics of Stevie.”

“Oh, dear Lord.” Nadine sank into a chair. “You meant a real crisis.” He watched her think for a minute before she looked up at him. “Why are you still in here then?” Her question spurred him into motion.

==

The breakroom had been frustratingly short of quick snacks, Blake had heard himself snipping at a few staff who had come through grazing on things that were laid out. It had been a long two days for all of them, fighting the White House and Sterling and then trying to manage the Stevie situation as well. He’d internally cheered when Henry’d snapped at the caller on live television.

He hauled what food he could find back to her office, closing the door behind himself. “Ma’am.” She didn’t reply to greet him, and it made him look up to be sure she hadn’t vanished somewhere. She was at the desk, leaned forward with her head on her arms. “Ma’am?” He put the mug and bowl down and moved closer.

“Yeah, Blake?” Her voice was soft, she didn’t raise her head.

“I brought you some tea and something to eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“It’s just yogurt, I put some blueberries on it.” His eyes were taking her in, looking for any signs of trouble. When she finally lifted her head, she looked steady enough, though her voice still sounded resigned. “Henry’s interview is done, perhaps you should give him a call and get him up to speed.” He nudged the phone on the desk.

“Yeah.” She reached for it.

“And you can work on eating while you talk to him.”

“I’m not in the mood to eat.”

“I’m not sure how that’s relevant at the moment.” He turned his back, messing with the tea while she made the call. They were way past the time when he pretended not to eavesdrop on her calls with Henry. The conversation stayed mostly about their eldest daughter, then dipped into Henry’s spectacular interview before circling around to some of the problems they were having in the office. He couldn’t hear Henry’s side but knew when the conversation shifted again.

“Yeah, he’s hovering, trying to feed me.” When Blake looked up, she was giving him a fond smile. “Of course. I’ll tell him. Love you.” She dropped the receiver back into the cradle and sagged, finally turning to look at him. “Henry said thank you and he’ll call you later.”

“Sure.”

==

Blake opened the door to the Secretary’s office and froze. The room was empty. He looked to the couch, nothing, the bathroom was empty and dark as well. Letting himself through the side door to the conference room, he stepped into another empty room. “Not good.” He said to no one.

Stepping back out by his desk, he ran into Nadine. “I don’t suppose you saw MSec down your way?” She shook her head. “Breakroom?” Another shake. “Crap.”

“You lost her?”

“I didn’t loose her. She just… went somewhere in the building without me knowing.” _Sound not freaked out_ , he chided himself.

“What makes you think she’s still in the building?”

“Her detail didn’t reach out to me.”

“She was CIA and is a mother, trust me, both of those give you skills to sneak out of places without being noticed.”

“If she was with Doctor McCord, he would have messaged me. If he knew she was going rogue, he would have messaged me.”

“So, he knows nothing.”

“Would it be too much to ask she be microchipped.” He huffed. “If anyone needs me, I’m on a factfinding mission.” He waved his hands in the air as he turned and walked, the sounds of her laughter following him.

He’d searched the almost entire seventh floor and turned the last corner when he found her tucked into an alcove. It would’ve been easy to miss her.

She saw him coming. “Nope, I’m done. No more bad news.”

Blake hesitated; he’d been about to say he was glad she was all right. Instead he skipped straight to the reason he was searching for her, finishing off with a faux-offer to find bad news, which felt flat. He had a sinking feeling the dinner wasn’t going to go well, no matter how many years of history the two couples had.

==

_She’ll be late tomorrow._ A message from Henry popped up on Blake’s phone just before midnight.

Bad night?

_Mama Bear, gin, and then work-related stuff._

In that order?

_Not entirely, the gin appeared a few times. And then a nightcap._

I will adjust the morning accordingly. Blake tossed his phone back on the nightstand. As if their week needed any more complications, an alcohol-fueled hash-out between Elizabeth and the President behind closed doors where there was no need to maintain decorum, and with only Henry and FLOTUS to referee. Tomorrow was going to be an exceedingly long day.


	26. Done

Blake was already making a mental list of things as he approached the hotel concierge desk. After a brief conversation and a few notes jotted into his notebook, he was on his way as quickly as possible to the nearest store.

The staff, Secretary, and a contingent of her DS agents were overseas to take part in talks. It was meant to be a four day trip of which they were now on day six and to top it off, a harried member of the catering staff had not been paying attention and had dropped a tray of drinks. Which led to him scouring a foreign city for women’s clothing.

Ducking into the first store on his list, he glanced around, looking for something for his boss to wear for her evening dinner event. He was scanning the racks when an assistant appeared at his side, a suspicious look on her face.

“Do you have anything in blue?” He asked.

“What is it you are looking for, Sir?”

“I need something semi-formal for a dinner for my, uh-” And it was one of those moments his job got a little weird. “Girlfriend. I wish to surprise her; I have her sizes. Dark blue if possible.”

The woman turned, making her way further into the store. Blake followed, stopping almost to the back as he spotted a pair of slacks in a familiar cut. He swiftly checked the sizes, mentally making the conversions as he rushed behind her. When she pulled out a deep blue pencil dress, he eyed it over carefully. “The color is good, but this neckline, do you have anything a bit less…” He waved across the front. She raised a brow in question.

“I’m sorry, I don’t believe I do.”

“Okay.” He turned. “Oh, that would work.” He lifted a silvery wrap off a display table and held it against the dress. “Yes, that would work. Also, that blouse up there.” He drew her attention to another display.

==

Two more stops later and Blake was rushing back into the hotel with garment bags in tow, muttering curses to delayed signings and inattentive serving staff as he went. On the right floor, he rushed past the DS agents and knocked on the door. The Secretary pulled the door open dressed in a hotel robe, fresh make-up and hair done.

“So, what was the story this time?” She chuckled as she let him in.

“I went with girlfriend, Ma’am.” It was a bit of a joke now between them, what excuse he used to be buying things she needed. “Though the lady at the lingerie store expressed some concern about my prudish ideas of what should be selected.” He added as she vanished into the bathroom with the bags. He heard her cackle through the door. “I went ahead and got fresh clothes for tomorrow as well, Ma’am. Hopefully, the talks will wrap up and we can get back.”

She didn’t answer until she pulled the door back open. “Well, I would worry, but you have such a good eye for fashion. Zip me?” She turned her back to him, holding her hair to the side with one hand while she kept the dress in place with the other.

The first time they’d done this, he’d blushed bright red and tried to avert his eyes as he’d helped her get ready. Now though, there was no blushing as he straightened the fabric where it’s folded in, not even noticing the lingerie as he pulled the zip up. “Be that as it may, I feel the need to apologize for this one, I was pressed for time.”

She turned to face him. “How do I look?”

“Um. As I feared that neckline is much lower than is perhaps diplomatically acceptable. I did get a wrap.” He pulled it out and passed it over, unboxing the shoes as well.

“New shoes?” She near whined. “You know how much I hate wearing new shoes out before I have a chance to wear them around the office and break them in.”

“I know, Ma’am, but the styles you already packed are suitable for pants, but not this.”

She frowned but took them. “Fine. You’re going to be by my side all night, right?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Good. Then at least we get a fake date to go with your cover story.” She smirked.

==

“Blake, I think you need to take the Secretary her signature cocktail now.” Nadine’s voice cut through his musing at a table on the edge of the gathering.

“Where?” He looked around the room, following the Chief of Staff’s line of sight. “How many?”

“Dignitaries have been plying her with champagne since she got pulled away from you. I tried to get over there, but the situation seems to have moved into your realm.” At his confused look, she elaborated. “She laughed, Blake. Not the ladylike, diplomatic laugh she does, the _other_ laugh.”

“Oh.” He stood, abandoning what he was doing and headed first to the bar to whisper an order for the bartender and then went in search of his boss.

It was practiced art, getting her to relinquish the stemmed glass and take the tall thin one he exchanged it for. “Your cocktail, Ma’am.” He ducked his head and spoke directly into her ear, bearing some of her weight when she leaned back into him. When he looked up, he noticed a woman walking their way.

“Madam Secretary.” The woman spoke. “Who is your, ah, friend? He is not the husband that was in the magazine some time ago, no?”

“Estelle, this is my personal assistant, Blake Moran.”

Estelle offered her hand to him. “Personal assistant, hm?”

“He steps in when my husband can’t be with me.” Blake closed his eyes. It was innocent, it’d even once been an entire conversation between himself and Doctor McCord, but the way it sounded when she said it…

“I see.”

“Ma’am, speaking of, you had promised to call him and the kids.” He brought up the code for time to step out.

Sipping her cocktail, she looked up at him. “Is it that time already?”

“I’m afraid so.” He nudged the drink up again, she took the hint and worked on drinking it. Once it was empty enough, he began to lead her out of the large room, frowning slightly at just how much she was leaning on his arm until he remembered the shoes.

Once they were outside and waiting for the motorcade to pull up, she looked up at him again. “It was a good night.”

“How are your feet, Ma’am?”

“Fine, as soon as you cut them off, they won’t hurt so much.”

He chuckled. “You can take them off as soon as you get into the SUV.”

“Sounds like a plan.” In the back of the SUV, she leaned into him, eyes closing almost as soon as the shoes were off, he didn’t expect any talking on the drive back to the hotel, but after a few quiet minutes, she spoke up. “The raspberry flavoring was the fake kind.”

He chuckled. The end-of-evening special cocktail was flavored tea. “I’m sorry, Ma’am. When we get back, I’ll be sure to go out and get the real thing for you.”

She nodded into his shoulder. “I think I had more than I usually do at these things.”

“I will order room service for you when we get upstairs.” She turned her head, so she was staring up at him with her wide blue eyes asking without words. “I will order something greasy.”

“Thank you, Blake.” She gave him a one-armed hug.

When the motorcade pulled up at the hotel, he already had slid black flats out of a bag under the seat, collecting her stilettos as he trailed into the building behind her. By the time they reached her room, he also had her wrap tossed over his arm as he dialed down to room service to get something brought up. “The food is on its way, Ma’am.” He shared as the door shut behind them. The Secretary was already kicking her flats against the wall as she sank onto the bed. “I’ll unzip you and you can change while you wait.”

With a huff, she was up again, turning her back so they could do the reverse of earlier in the evening. “I’m going to shower.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He watched the bathroom door click shut before he moved on to his next task.

==

The following morning, he was letting himself into her room once again, this time with a bag in one hand and a tray holding two coffee cups in the other. “Ma’am.” He called out as the door clicked shut. “Nadine got word, both sides are ready to sign this morning.”

“That’s great news!” She called from behind the partly closed bathroom door.

“I also brought coffee and found an approximation to bear claws.”

The door pulled open, she was partway dressed in the slacks and a bra, one hand holding a curling iron in her hair. “Gimmie.” She held the other hand out for the pastry. After the first bite, she groaned. “Oh, this is even better than…” She swallowed. “Than news the treaty is sorted.”

“Of course, Ma’am.” He watched her try to finish her hair and scarf down the pastry at the same time, finally standing and moving behind her. “You eat, let me do this before you burn yourself.” He wrapped the next section of hair around the iron. “How are you doing this morning?”

“I’m good. Hey, do you think I can wear the boots with these or do I need to stick with heels.”

“The boots should be fine.”

“Good, cause my feet are still killing me.”

“That’s the last of it.” He moved to secure the iron out of the way as she went in search of the shirt.

“Henry gives me a hard time for overpacking. The one time I listen, this happens.” She turned once the blouse was on. “Good?”

“Perfect.”

==

On the plane, the rest of the staff napped in the front cabin. Blake finished his emails before wandering through the quiet plane to locate his boss. Since they weren’t travelling this time with reporters, the rear of the plane was empty. He would have missed her back there if it hadn’t been for spotting the heel of her boot on the arm of an aisle seat. Quietly, he wandered back to join her. “Ma’am.” He spoke softly so as not to startle her.

“Hey Blake.” She whispered, glancing up at him before looking back out the window she was leaned against.

“You look… melancholy.” The only reply his observation received was an equally melancholy sigh. It told him a lot. He crawled into the row ahead of her and turned so he was facing backward. “Missing Henry.”

“It was all good, all business, until she mentioned it at the thing last night.” She kept talking to the window. “Is it weird?”

“Weird, Ma’am?” He wasn’t following.

“If I ever had an affair, I would probably see them less than you. There are times I see Henry less than you.” She went quiet for a minute. “Technically you and I go on more dates than I go on with Henry these days. Is it weird that we have this… closeness that people keep commenting on?”

“I don’t think so Ma’am. It’s all part of this job.”

“It’s just a job?”

“No, Ma’am, it’s far from just a job. But it is _this_ job. A job I take extremely seriously.” The quiet lasted long enough that he’d decided she was done talking and he was about to take his leave when she spoke again.

“He didn’t answer.”

_Oh._ Came to his mind. “We’ll be home tonight, Ma’am.” He began, only to have Nadine appear, a look of agitation on her face.

“The pilot called back, there’s an issue and he’s concerned about getting out over the ocean before it’s resolved. We’ll be stopping off in London until the issue can be dealt with.” Blake watched Nadine hesitate, waiting for an acknowledgement that he knew, given the conversation she’d interrupted, wasn’t going to come this time.

“Thanks, Nadine.” He finally answered on their boss’s behalf. When Nadine turned and gave him a worried and questioning look, he gave her a slight shake of his head. His mind wandered until a sound broke the otherwise silent cabin. Blake turned back to see a tear track down Elizabeth’s cheek. Pushing back on the seat, he rose to leave and give her privacy. He didn’t doubt that she was one of the strongest women he knew, but even the strongest people reached the point of being done.

He was several strides up the aisle when he heard her voice. “Please stay.”

He looked back. She’d shifted position and now he could see her blue eyes over the back of the seats. “Always, Ma’am.” She motioned for him to sit in the same row. He didn’t hesitate to lift his arm and allow her to curl into him. When he’d first taken the job, he’d still had a social life, still dated, but as he settled into their weird work relationship, it felt too much like he was cheating to carry on. He’d committed then, whatever she needed, he would keep watch.


	27. Thanksgiving

“Hey, Mom.”

Elizabeth looked up from the dishwasher to see both her girls entering the kitchen. “Hey, what’s up?”

Alison leaned against the counter by the sink, glancing at Stevie before speaking. “What’s Blake doing for Thanksgiving?”

“I- uh, I don’t know. Why?”

Ali shrugged. “We thought maybe we could invite him to come celebrate here, with us.”

Bess turned to Stevie. “You did?”

“He’s never talked about his family and he’s always with ours, we were talking and, yeah, I thought at least we should invite him.” Stevie rearranged some apples on the counter to keep her hands busy.

“Well, I mean, I guess we could ask.” She agreed. “I can talk to him when I get in.”

Ali lit up. “Really?”

“Sure.” She laughed when Alison gave her a big hug. “He might have plans.”

“I understand.”

==

Walking to her office an hour later, Elizabeth looked at Blake as she rounded the corner. “Blake, my office please.” The request dismissed the rest of the staff who had been following with the morning updates.

“Yes?” He followed her in, collecting her coat and things from where she dropped them in a chair.

“You are officially invited to my house for Thanksgiving. If, you know, you don’t already have plans.” She watched him pause and stare into the closet a second before facing her. “The whole family would like you to come. The girls suggested it first this morning, but we all… If you have no other plans, we’d love it if you joined us.”

He finished putting her coat away and shut the door, considering. “I’ll have to…I have to get back to you.”

She studied him, the way he seemed to withdraw the slightest bit. “Of course. It’s nothing big. We watch the parade on TV, toss a football around, eat, just have fun.”

Blake faced her, but didn’t reply verbally, he just nodded and then slipped out of the room.

==

Neither one mentioned the invite the rest of the day, which was fine with Blake. He’d spent his entire adult life working on being just fine being on his own for the big holidays. There was always something interesting to do if he wanted to be out, or he could laze around his apartment and do nothing, which, given his job, always held a little appeal. The prospect of a real family holiday, with a real, All American, family, it was something he’d never considered experiencing.

“Have you heard anything I said.”

He popped his head up and stared at Nadine, eyes wide. “What?”

Her lips pursed together as she shook her head. “You look like you need to talk something out.” She sighed. “Come on.” She led the way back to her own office from his desk. “Talk.”

He took a seat. “Thanksgiving growing up wasn’t ever exactly…memorable in a positive way. I’ve spent my adult life avoiding any memory of it.”

“Okay.”

“I was officially invited to participate in the McCord Family Thanksgiving.”

“Ah.” She smiled at him. “I’m not surprised.” Nadine studied his face. “But it brings up those memories?”

“Yeah. I don’t want to bring down their day.”

“They might bring up yours.” She moved from the edge of her desk to the seat beside him. “Are you considering turning down the invite?” She watched him nod. “And do what instead?”

He sighed heavily. “I usually stay home or catch a movie or something.”

“Alone.”

“Yeah.”

“Blake, I say this with all the love I have; go have Thanksgiving with the McCords. Let it be a new, positive memory.”

“Okay.” He nodded.

“I expect to hear that you accepted by EOB.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

==

Barring world crises, which were, frankly, known to happen with nerve-wracking regularity in their lives, the staff had a four-day weekend over Thanksgiving. By the time Wednesday rolled around, Blake had already been told by more than one McCord to plan on spending the weekend with them. Figuring it would save on parking space, he arranged to simply hitch a ride to Georgetown with the motorcade.

He was nervous, it was one thing to be in and out for something that approximated a work-related reason, it was something else entirely to be there for purely pleasure. He followed Elizabeth in after work and hung back as she dumped her things and greeted her family.

“We got Chinese.” Henry spoke to him. “Hope you’re hungry.”

“Sounds good.” He nodded, carefully hanging his own coat away and setting his bags neatly to the side, before reaching for the navy coat flung half on a chair.

“Blake.” Henry’s voice caught his attention, he was smiling. “Leave it.” His attention was drawn away before Blake could respond, Elizabeth was gushing over dumplings.

He watched on mostly as an outsider through dinner, they were all boisterous, passionate. After the meal was over, Jason vanished off to his room while his sisters hovered in the kitchen while dishes were dealt with, talking about a variety of topics. Henry came and sat beside him at the table.

“So, shellshocked or contemplating?”

Blake thought a minute on the question, watching Henry watch him. “I’m not sure.”

Henry chuckled. “They’re on good behavior tonight.”

“Froyo!” Alison cheered.

“Well, they were.” He sighed, standing. “Come on, you can help me.” He gestured for Blake to stand. Around them, mother and daughters were grabbing their coats. “I’ll run interference, Babe.” He pecked a kiss on Elizabeth’s cheek. “Have fun, be good.”

“What’s happening?” He had to ask.

“They’re going out for frozen yogurt. We’re the distraction.” He was almost to the entry. “Don’t worry, they’ll bring us something back.”

Blake paused, glancing back to where the trio were vanishing to the garage. “What?” At the front, Henry was opening the door and speaking to security. “Are you kidding me?”

Henry’s head popped back in. “Blake?” His tone said there was no room to debate it.

“Fine.” He slipped out the door and joined Henry in a conversation with the detail standing outside, catching taillights as a familiar car vanished up the street, wondering all the while just how often this happened.

An hour later, Blake watched as they returned, cups of frozen yogurt in hand, one for himself and one for Henry. “Okay, I have to ask. How often do you ditch your detail?” Husband and wife exchanged a grin. “I can’t believe any of you.” He couldn’t help grin around a bite of froyo though. “I guess I’m sworn to secrecy now?”

“Consider it stage one of hazing for entry.” Alison smirked.

“Fine. Wait, stage one?”

==

“But I want to watch the parade! Why do we always have to play football?” Alison’s voice wafted up the stairs as he descended the following morning.

“It’s part of a classic American Thanksgiving!” Jason insisted. “Food, football.”

“And a parade! The Macy’s parade is the best.” She shot back; Blake was in the kitchen by then. “I wish we could go.”

“Could you imagine the reaction Matt would have?” Stevie asked as she poured a mug of coffee. “Like, four million people turn out for that.”

“It’s so not fair!”

“Actually, I could probably make that happen.” He spoke up, making all three kids turn, suddenly realizing he was there. “What?”

“Are you serious?” Ali sounded elated. “You really think we could go one year?”

“I can ask around. It’s one of the most secured events there is, and they already have an entire section for VIPs that has extra security.”

“You do know we’d be sitting out in the cold for hours, right?” Jason grumbled. “If I agree to not complain about watching it on TV, can we not go sit in the cold ever?”

“Come on, Jace.” Stevie tugged her brother’s arm. “It would be a perk of Mom’s job; we don’t get a lot of those.”

“What’s a perk of my job?” Bess came into the kitchen.

Ali was bouncing on her toes. “Blake’s going to arrange for us to go to New York for the parade sometime!”

“Try! I said I could try!” He amended, failing to curb the enthusiasm in the room.

“Blake’s the best!” Ali gushed.

Her mother laughed. “I know.” She turned to him. “You really agreed to this?”

He shrugged. “I can try.” He grinned. “Provided you don’t get labeled a flight risk in the meantime and Matt puts the kibosh on all activities.” He pointedly said.

“Matt’s overprotective.”

“It’s literally his job, which you thwart at every opportunity.”

“How about we leave Ali and Stevie to watch the parade and the rest of us go toss a ball?” Jason appeared again, football in his hand.

“How about we record the parade and we all go play?” Henry suggested, making his daughters groan. “Come on, family time. TV can wait. Go get dressed.” He nudged them upstairs. “We’ll enjoy another perk of Mom’s job for a while.”

The perk, it turned out, was that part of the detail were able to be prodded into a pickup football game in the park under Henry’s suggestion that they could do their job just as well while having a little fun. Blake found himself teamed up with Henry and Jason, the latter insisting that a boys-versus-girls approach was the way to go and any lack of skill in Blake was fine because the girls were still girls. Blake had his doubts, girls tended to play dirty in any arena and it turned out, family football was no different. On the ride back to the house, worn out and slightly muddy, he realized that he hadn’t thought about his previous holidays at all, perhaps Nadine had made a good point.

==

While Henry coordinated food preparation with his daughters, Blake found himself a quiet spot at one of the desks to pull out his phone and check some emails. Just because they had the days off, didn’t mean the work wasn’t still coming in. He could hear Henry laughing at something Stevie had said and after a few minutes of the sounds from the kitchen, Blake put his phone down. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel that compulsion to stay on top of things.

“You aren’t working, are you?” He startled at Elizabeth’s voice.

“Not really.”

“Why are you hiding out in here then?”

“I don’t really know.” He rose from his seat and started toward the rest of the family.

“It’s okay to say it’s overwhelming.” When he looked back, she smiled softly. “I could understand that, I know how it feels. If that’s what it is.”

“It’s not… It’s not that it’s overwhelming, not really.” He couldn’t see her eyes due to the reflection on her glasses and he really wished he could. “More like I’m just not accustomed to it.”

By the time they all sat down to eat, Blake looked around and a thought occurred to him, he wanted this. The thought made him smile and relax and enjoy the meal.

==

“Blake seemed to settle in.” Henry mentioned as he tossed pillows into a chair that evening. “I think he had a good time playing football this morning.”

“He did.” Elizabeth spoke from the bathroom. “I think once detail got on board, he figured he had to agree.”

“Did he really agree to arrange for a trip to New York for the parade at some point?”

He didn’t get a response until the bathroom door opened. “Ali was fighting with Jace this morning, I think it started as a way to appease the situation, but now that it’s out there, I’m sure he’ll at least look into it.” She sighed. “He has a great many skills and connections.”

He settled into the bed. “Attempting McCord sibling peace, that’s a big task to take on.”

She curled up beside him. “Well, after successfully pulling off world peace, it’s the natural next step.” She laughed. “I feel so full still. I ate too much.

“It’s Thanksgiving, there’s no such thing as too much.”

“You say that every year and every year I feel like I need to sleep for days to give myself time to digest.”

==

Henry woke the next morning to an otherwise empty bed and the sounds of multiple raised voices from downstairs. In the kitchen, he found Kevin, another of the detail, and the rest of his household in what looked like a heated debate. “What’s going on at…” He looked at a clock. “Seven in the morning?”

“We want to go shopping. First day of Christmas season and all.” Ali pouted.

“I don’t.” Jason put his hands up.

“We thought that since the worst of the crazy shopping rush is over now, we could go catch the rest of the sales.” Ali carried on.

“Okay.” Henry didn’t see the problem yet.

“There has been a trend of disruptions at shopping malls in recent years during high volume times.” Kevin explained. “It’s simply too volatile an environment.”

“Ah.” He sat on the steps. “I understand.” He looked at the girls. “You guys can go, Kevin’s the final say though, sorry.”

Both girls groaned. “But we wanted Mom to come!”

“The more the merrier and everything.”

Henry looked to Kevin, who just shook his head. “Sorry guys. Hey. What if I go with you?”

“Really Dad?”

“Ouch.” He put a hand to his chest. “Well, those are your choices.”

“I-I’ll go.” Everyone turned to stare at Blake.

“I would have thought you would hate the crowds.” Stevie observed.

“That doesn’t stop me from shopping any other day of the year.”

“Are you sure?” Henry had to ask. “It’s going to be a madhouse.”

“It’s fine. Maybe I could even entice Jason to come with us, then you two get the house to yourself.”

Jason looked like he was going to complain again but thought better of it. “Shopping sounds better than being stuck at home with these two. Wait, you don’t have your car here.”

“Take mine.” Henry suggested. He pulled Elizabeth to his side and whispered in her ear, making her blush.

“Go!” She laughed. “Have fun!”

The girls bounced, thrilled to still get to go out and shop, Jason only rolled his eyes again.

==

It was long past dark as Blake steered the car back toward Georgetown. He’d been thankful all afternoon that he had a job that prepared him for functioning on coffee and sheer willpower. They’d managed to shop for nearly twelve hours straight, it had been a bonding experience unlike anything else. He’d been impressed with Alison’s fashion knowledge and at one point, they’d lost Stevie and Jason who’d grown bored of standing in boutiques looking at clothes. In the end, though, the entire trunk plus any free space in the back seat was filled with bags.

Glancing in the mirror, he saw that Alison and Jason were sound asleep in the back, Stevie was nodding off beside him. “Thanks for sucking it up and coming out today.” She spoke, exhaustion in her voice.

“No problem, it was a lot more fun than I expected.”

She huffed. “You and Ali were on a roll there for a couple hours.”

“I knew she was into fashion and design; I just didn’t realize how passionate she was.”

“Did she tell you she sketches?”

“She did.” He glanced in the mirror. “She said she’d show me some.”

“They’re really good.” She leaned forward and pulled out her phone. “I’ll call Dad and let them know we’re almost back.” She smirked. “Give them a heads up so we don’t walk in on anything…weird.” His chuckle made her glance at him with one of her own. “They are not ashamed that they love each other.”

“I know.”

“Wait.” Her voice dropped to a shocked whisper. “They get all lovey-dovey at work too?”

“Let’s just say I now have a strict rule that they are not allowed in your mom’s office with the door shut anymore.”

“Oh, My. God.” She laughed. “I supposed kissing is bad enough, I’d love it if they’d think to shut a door once in a while.”

He guided the SUV into the garage. “Do we leave everything in here for tonight or haul it in?”

“We probably should take it in.” She turned around to wake her siblings.

==

By the time Sunday morning rolled around, Blake wandered into the kitchen without feeling weird for being there. A grin crossed his face at the banter between Henry and Jason as they were already playing a video game, the sisters in the kitchen pouring over something between them. “Morning.”

“Blake!” Alison exclaimed with a grin. “Come look, these are some of the designs I told you about.” She pulled him into their discussion. “I was thinking of this as a Christmas piece and, I don’t know, some sort of accent or something.”

He studied the two-piece dress she’d sketched. “What about a faux-fur shoulder wrap? These colors are quite bright so you could do white and maybe a muff, bring in that whole White Christmas feel to it.”

Her eyes lit up as Stevie laughed and spoke. “Wow, you’re really good at this.”

He shrugged, a slight blush coloring his cheeks. “It’s fun. If you really wanted to have some fun, you could take the accent material here and here and do men’s ties and pocket squares.”

“I’ve never done menswear.” Ali shook her head. “You know, I could try it and you could wear it for Christmas.”

“I would be happy to model anything you make, but I don’t really do Christmas.”

Her face fell. “Oh. Why not?”

“Because Blake’s Jewish.” They all turned to see Elizabeth on the bottom step, a soft smile on her lips. “As is Nadine actually.” She saw the surprise on Blake’s face. “Didn’t think I knew that, did you?”

“I- I’d not even thought about it.” He stammered as she walked the rest of the way into the room.

“So, you celebrate Hanukkah then?” Ali shifted to conversation. “So, if I did blue and white, that would be colors for that, right? I could probably even find something with tiny menorahs unless that would be inappropriate.” She said the last bit more to herself.

Blake stood speechless until a hand patting his arm made him turn, Elizabeth was at his side. “Perk of their dad being a theology expert.” She chuckled.

“Yeah. Uh. Honestly, I don’t really celebrate anything…at all…but technically it would be Hanukkah and yes it would be blue and white.” He tried to catch up; Ali was already sketching on fresh paper.

“That’s the festival of lights, right? With the candles and things?” Stevie asked. She watched him nod. “Do you ever go to any of the events?”

“I went when I first moved here to the lighting down by the White House.” He felt himself frown, looking between Stevie and her mother. “I was working the year after and then… never really made the time. We have a menorah at the office, Nadine’s doing. The temple she attends does something for the first night every year.”

“You should go.” Stevie encouraged. “I mean, if you want. We could go with you if you wanted.” She shrugged one shoulder.

He didn’t know how to respond and turned to Elizabeth who mirrored Stevie’s shrug.

“It’s up to you. If you ask, we’ll be there.”

“I-I’d have to think about it.”

==

Monday morning, Blake found himself wandering into Nadine’s office once again, this time feeling much differently than he had the week before.

“So? How was it?” She was looking up at him over the rims of her glasses as he took a seat.

“Good. Fun… Busy.”

She placed the file she’d been reading in her lap. “That’s good, right? You were worried about bad memories.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He looked up to see her brows raise in question and he sighed, sagging back into the couch. “They offered to go to a festival of light service with me if I wanted.”

“Really. How did that come up?”

“Alison was sketching dress designs and mentioned Christmas and it just kind of…The Secretary answered when she asked why I don’t celebrate Christmas. Then they just rolled with it and said they’d come if I wanted to go and didn’t want to go alone.”

She smiled. “And now you’re thinking about going.”

He thought a minute. “I think, maybe. I don’t know.”


	28. Together

“Blake.”

He looked to see Henry step onto the plane. “Henry.” He greeted.

“Looks like everything is a go. Can we talk?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Blake headed for the stateroom, closing the door when Henry stepped in. “What’s up?”

“Is it crazy of me to worry about things going south in Cuba?”

“We’ll mostly be at the embassy, I mean, you and Alison are the ones going out and doing the tourist thing.”

“Right. And you’ll be with her for everything?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Good, Russell ambushed us on the ride over, tossed some new issues into everything, sounds like more work. I was hoping at least a little of this trip would be relaxing.” Henry smirked. “Ocean breezes and all.”

“Henry.” He cut in. “I will chaperone Alison somewhere, literally anywhere, if you would just stop that right now.” The other man laughed. “You two are like two co-eds finally with their own place, I swear. Look, there are risks to this trip, but no trip is without those and I plan to not screw up again.”

“Good to hear.” He patted Blake’s shoulder. “Now, I’m going to go see if my wife needs me.”


	29. Tables

“Henry, how is Geneva?” Blake greeted as he answered the phone.

“Blake, I need a commercial flight back, first one you can put me on.”

“But…Did something happen?” He turned on his heel, scanning the busy office for a sign of some mystical issue.

“It’s classified.” He heard the older man sigh. “I got into a big argument with Elizabeth last night and then Dalton. I- I can’t stay here, I’m already on my way to the airport, so if you could just find me something?”

“Yeah, sure.” He began to scramble. “Henry, wait!”

“What, Blake?”

“Does Jay know?”

“Know what?”

“About whatever’s happened? If the two of you argued, I’m guessing she’s just as upset as you are. You said the argument was last night, well, she’s been radio silent with anyone here since then.”

“Blake. Just leave it.”

“No! You are the one who has kept after me for two years now that you and I are a team, the men behind the woman, remember? I get that you have your fights, frankly, given the work you both do, I’m surprised there aren’t more, but we agreed on who and what comes first. Now she’s being abandoned in a foreign country with little more than her detail. Remember how that ended last time?” He was angry and wasn’t sure why. “I’ll get you on your flight, don’t worry, but you had a bigger job. You took that torch. And you’re walking away.”

His own words echoed back at him when a few hours later, Nadine and Daisy closed in on his desk at a run. “What?”

“A car was just blown up in Geneva. Occupants and conditions unknown.”

==

It was only the series of texts from Jay that kept Blake from being on the next flight out.

_MSec is fine._

_Did you know HM left?_

_We are sitting down to eat now._

Even still, Blake made sure he was in the motorcade when it pulled into the airport. He stayed inside, watching through the tinted glass as Jay and the detail and his boss came out and moved his way. Checking his phone on any further updates, he waited until she climbed in. “Good evening, Ma’am.”

“Oh, Blake.” She sighed, sinking back into the seat with a worn grin. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too, Ma’am.” He waited until they were moving before carrying on. “Henry called me.”

“He did, did he?”

He nodded. “I may have yelled at him.”

“You yelled at Henry? I’m having a hard time believing that.”

“He and I made a deal, Ma’am, and we reaffirmed it after Iran- you would never be on your own again.” He looked up to see her eyeing him suspiciously. “My job is to always get you home to you family, his job is to, you know, be there as your husband which is pretty much the same job in some ways. Less paperwork. But… We even joked about it in Cuba when he and I went out that evening after the opening, you were twice as protected he’d said. Now, I know I’ve let you down before, but I never walked away.” Her hand raising stopped him.

“Jay was with me.”

“These things aren’t Jay’s job.”

She gave her half smile. “I can care for myself you know.”

“I know. I just never expected it would be him that just left you like that. He loves you more than life itself.”

She laughed at that. “Loving each other doesn’t mean we don’t fight, Blake. And I had to sign off on something that hurt him. A lot. And I hated it.”

“I got so angry at him.”

“On the phone?”

“No, after. But I’d said something to him, on the phone, and then… I worry he may no longer wish for me to be around anymore.”

“I doubt that.” She took in his apprehension. “What did you say?”

“I asked him if he remembered what happened the last time you were in a foreign country alone with only your detail. Then I found out a car blew up where you were at.”

Her only response for several miles was to stare at him a moment and then to sit in silence, her hands rubbing against her slacks.

Eventually, she cleared her throat. “That’s an awful big stack of paperwork you have.”

“Just things that need signatures, Ma’am.”

Half an hour later, when he stood by Alison and watched his boss head to bed, the accidental _I love you_ made him realize, he really needed to talk to Henry.


	30. E Tu

Nadine wiped her face as Blake retook his bar stool. “So, I have to ask, based on that song, what’s eating you?”

“I screwed up again.” He looked up at her over his glass. “With the evil brunch.”

She laughed. “There was no winning that. In fact, I think you and Doctor McCord ended up being the best thing for it.”

“How do you mean?”

She sighed, considering. “Let me ask you this. Say she’d made it home. How this has week been, how it is every week. Imagine if it had been the two of them to face those neighbors. So, think back to all the things you did.” She watched him. “Now take all of your contributions out. And add in her desire to make peace, his protectiveness, and just how much she takes things to heart.”

He thought about it.

“Let me guess, they were all upset she wasn’t there, right?”

“Yes.”

“They would have attacked her at least as hard as they did the two of you. Her home, her sanctuary would have been violated.”

“I hadn’t considered that.”

“You and Doctor McCord are close. That’s good. Me and Missus Marsh were never close. Barely ever talked. Even before the affair started. Even if that’d never happened, she and I never would have had that. But then, it’s different for a man.” She sipped her drink. “I told Daisy this a few months back- A man needs a woman who needs him. That’s the role I filled if I’m honest with myself. I was good at my job, but at the same time I needed him. A woman doesn’t need a man the same way.”

He felt himself blush.

“Not like that.” She swatted his arm with a laugh. “A woman needs a supporter. Daisy was right, my ideas would get me strung up by the feminist movement. Anyway, we don’t need a man to jump in a speak for us, do for us.”

“Russell Jackson does that.”

“And how does she respond?” She reminded. “Support is an entirely different thing. And trust not to abuse the power that comes with being allowed so close. You didn’t fail at the brunch; you took the hit. You and Doctor McCord.” She dug out her phone. “When you all were in Cuba, Matt took some pictures. He wasn’t trying to get anything in particular. After the opening ceremony, he took this. He explained that the angles made it look more than it did in real life.” She tapped her phone and passed it over. “He’d planned to print some so the family had the memories, but when he looked at it later, he wasn’t sure.”

Blake looked at the screen. He remembered that afternoon, after the ceremony he and Henry had gone for drinks and had left Alison and her mother to do their own thing. Before they’d left, the three adults had been standing on a patio, Elizabeth talking to Alison who was below. He and Henry had been a few feet away. All three of them had been listening to Alison’s plans and facing the same direction. Matt’s picture though didn’t have Alison in it, it was just the three of them. He and Henry appeared to be standing on either side of her, the perspective making it look like they were both looking at her rather than Alison.

“You know what I see?”

“What?” He passed the phone back.

“Love. Doctor McCord clearly loves her, that’s no secret, but you do too.”

“I don’t-” He started.

“There’s many kinds of love, Blake.” She patted his shoulder. “All of them are scary. You worry you’ll hurt them, disappoint them, that they’ll do the same to you. Children worry about it with their parents, and parents to their children. It’s universal. The horrible truth is it _will_ happen, you can’t avoid it. One day you look up and realize that all your best intentions caused them pain. Or disappointment. Then time goes by and you feel it yourself.”

“I think I’ve already managed that.”

“Perhaps. I doubt it though. Not that I’ve seen anyway. But I will warn you, you will one day be shattered. The job we have, I can see you mentally have her on this pedestal and one day she’ll make a call you’ll struggle with. I went through the same thing a few times, the first one is always the hardest to get past. It feels like a betrayal.”

“How did you get past it?”

“Oh, I hid away, screamed, cried. There was plenty of alcohol involved.” She giggled against her glass. “It took me way too long to realize it was the job and I was failing at it. My purpose was to be there, even when things got hard. Even when I didn’t agree with them. Agreeing with Vincent was never my job, supporting was. And being the sounding board between him and the world, the listener when no one else could or would.”

“So, you’re saying…”

“Be prepared to have your heart broken. It doesn’t hurt less just because your relationship is not _that_ type. My heart broke when my son walked away from me and I know, now, that his broke when he thought I’d turned away from him.” They lapsed into silence for a song before she spoke again. “Still worried about the 2030 report?”


	31. Maureen

“Who is she texting?” Maureen hissed, keeping her voice low.

Henry looked up, first at his sister, and then around the room until he spotted his wife curled in on herself in the kitchen, leaned into the corner of the counter. Maureen had been her usual self and had been at Elizabeth’s throat for the entire four days they’d been in town so far. “Just leave it alone, Maureen.”

Her eyes grew wide as she inhaled sharply. “Henry!” It was just as low, but sharp. Accusing. Turning on her heel, she stalked into the kitchen.

He rushed to intervene. “Maureen, stop. It’s not what you think.”

She did stop, turning back to him. “So, it’s exactly what I think.” She turned back, drawing Elizabeth’s attention as she crossed her arms. “What’s his name?”

“Maureen, leave it. Don’t do this now. Please.” He continued to try.

“And when should we do this, Henry? We’re here trying to bury our father and she can’t even pretend to still be your wife till it’s over?” She asked again. “What’s his name?”

Henry started to respond again, but halfway through his insistence that Maureen leave it alone, Elizabeth finally spoke. “It’s okay, Henry, let her think what she wants.”

He stilled, dropping his head in surrender. “His name’s Blake.”

Maureen’s eyes cut into him. “You know and you’re still with her?”

“Elizabeth’s not having an affair, Maureen. Blake’s her personal assistant. He’s almost Stevie’s age.” He huffed in irritation at his sister. “He’s practically our son.”

She spluttered. “But, what?”

“Ask the kids.” He waved his hand. “He’s…”

Maureen turned and stared at Elizabeth, who hadn’t said any more yet. “I can’t believe you. This sounds like an excuse.” She closed in, cornering Elizabeth, and put her hand out.

Elizabeth glanced at her hand a moment before typing on the phone, then handed it over after it pinged.

Maureen looked at what Elizabeth’d written and the reply.

_Henry’s sister wants to see our text messages._

_-Okay.-_

She scrolled back, stopping randomly on a part of the conversation.

_-I told Henry I’d pick up the take out, he’s getting the beer.-  
-If you aren’t in the motorcade in 10 minutes, I’m doubling back to physically remove you from your office.-_

_Fine. I am putting my coat on as we speak._

She swiped again, watching the messages blur past before stopping it again. This time the first comment was from Elizabeth.

_It’s a bad day.  
Can you call for a med appointment?_

_-On it now.-  
-How bad?-_

_Bad._

_-I can’t reach Henry, he must still be in class.-  
\- One minute and we’ll be off. I’ll stay until I reach him.-_

Maureen’s brows pulled together. “I don’t understand.”

Henry sighed. “Maybe if you didn’t always imagine the worst, you wouldn’t cause so many problems.”

“Me?” She asked with indignation.

Henry pulled out his own phone and dialed. “Hey, Blake?”

“Is everything okay?”

“How heartbroken would you be if I asked you to come to Pittsburg?”

“But this is family time, I’m holding everything down here.”

“I know.” He sighed. “But it would be a big help to have you here. You might have to bunk with Jason though.”

There was silence from the other end of the line for a minute. “Okay. Let me put a bag together. I’ll hop a flight so I can ride back with you guys. I think I can find one leaving in a bit.”

“Okay, Blake. I appreciate it. I’ll see you soon.” Henry hung up and turned to face his sister. “He’ll be here by dinner, so now you can back off.”

Maureen simply stared at her brother a moment before passing Elizabeth’s phone, which had been buzzing in her hand, back to the other woman and walked away. Around the corner, she heard Elizabeth speak.

“He wants to know what’s wrong.”

“Tell him you’ll see him soon.” Henry replied.

==

Maureen was planted at the front window two hours later when one of the black SUVs returned to a stop out front. The back door opened and a young man in a wool coat stepped out looking like something out of a magazine. He turned back and said something to the driver before the tailgate opened and he pulled out an overnight bag. “Henry!” She called out. “I believe your young man is here.” She turned at the sound of feet.

Her brother peeked out and then a smile blossomed on his face. He opened the door and stepped out, she followed to watch them.

“Blake, I’m glad you came.” He jogged down the steps, taking the bag from the younger man. “Elizabeth’s upstairs lying down at the moment.”

Blake was looking around. “This is a beautiful neighborhood. Is this where you grew up?”

“Yep. Come inside out of the cold.” He led the way back into the warm house. “Most everyone is out at the moment, including the kids, but this is my sister Maureen.”

She put out her hand and he took it, giving a polite shake and a small what she suspected was a near bow.

“Maureen, a pleasure.” Maureen couldn’t help but smile when he shined his biggest smile at her before he went somber. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.” She watched as Blake shrugged out of his coat, revealing an awfully expensive looking suit. Instantly, she mentally assessed that no one in their family probably owned a suit like that.

“Don’t feel you need to wait on me, I can take care of myself.” Blake carried on. “I’ll just blend into the background.” He turned to Henry. “How is she?”

Maureen watched her brother frown. “It’s been a rough week. She wanted me to wake her when you got here.” He turned slightly toward the stairs. “Second on the right. You’ll be in with Jason across the hall.”

With a curt nod, Blake took his bag and coat and headed up the stairs.

Henry turned to his sister. “Just… Don’t ask him questions in front of her. She’s already having a hard enough time as it is, she’s been through a lot in the past year.”

She gave him a hard look. “I think you’re blind. You’re in denial.”

“Come on.” He pulled her by her arm and silently crept up the stairs. In the hall, they could barely see into Henry’s old bedroom.

Elizabeth’s voice was soft with sleep. “I’m sorry Henry made you come.”

“I’m wherever you need me to be, Ma’am, you know that. And if you need me here to be a shoulder through this, then that’s where I’ll be.”

“Thank you.”

“You know, I stand by what I said earlier, your medicine would help you get through this.”

Maureen could just see Elizabeth shake her head; she gave Henry a questioning look.

“It makes me feel numb.”

“It helps you feel calm.”

“Henry helps me feel calm… But he’s got to be the rock for everyone else. It feels selfish to say I need him.”

“It’s not, and if you were calm, you’d know that without me telling you.” Blake stood and pulled Elizabeth to her feet. “You’ve barely eaten two bites all week, haven’t you? I don’t know when the others are getting back, but let’s go down and feed you, get some medicine in you, and then you can sit somewhere under a blanket and give me orders.”

Henry tugged Maureen back downstairs and a few minutes later, Blake and Elizabeth followed. He led her to the kitchen table and filled a plate of food, giving it to her before appearing in the living room.

“Henry, do you have..?” He held his thumb and index finger several inches apart.

“The front of my suitcase.” He answered, watching Blake head up the stairs again.

==

Everyone else would be back soon. Maureen had watched Blake do exactly as she’d heard him state, he’d herded Elizabeth to a big chair and had covered her in the afghan off the couch before vanishing back into the kitchen and started sorting the casseroles. She slipped in and sat watching him a minute. “I’m not sure what they told you about me.” She started.

Blake turned, pausing what he was doing, and frowned. She was startled by the hard tone to his voice. “Queen Elizabeth? Yes, I’ve heard.” He shook his head. “In over twenty-five years, have you ever spent a day getting to know her?”

Maureen blinked at him. “No.”

He huffed. “So, you know her so well.” Once the last casserole was sorted, he turned and faced her fully. “I’ve sorted and labelled everything based on the ingredients I could see and how long it would be good for. I moved as many as I could to the freezer, things that will freeze for a good while without going off. Please…” He stopped mid subject change. “She’s going to be a bit out of it for a while yet. If you need anything, just call for me.”

Maureen watched him walk out of the kitchen and stop by the chair, squatting down to speak to her, before he vanished upstairs. Unsure what to do for once, she wandered in and sat on the couch. Elizabeth didn’t even seem to realize she was there, her eyes drifting shut as her head tipped to the side. Watching her sleep, Maureen realized that she’d never seen the other woman relaxed. Ever. She’d always been tense. Watching her now, she realized Elizabeth looked much smaller this way.

The teens clomping and shouting as they reentered the house took both women by surprise, the noise woke Elizabeth with a jolt, her eyes flying open, wild, and searching. Maureen opened her mouth to call for Henry, but remembered he was still out doing something with Shane. Moving to the base of the stairs, she called up. “Blake?” He appeared out of he and Jason’s room instantly, taking the steps quickly as he headed for the living room.

She turned, the kids had already moved on to the TV room, and watched him kneel again, taking Elizabeth’s hands, speaking to her.

“You’re at Henry’s dad’s house, remember? His funeral is tomorrow.” He nodded when she did. “The kids are back, when you’re ready, I’ll go get them and remind them they need to spend time with their mother.”

“Let them have fun with their cousins.” She replied.

He smiled. “Fine. Is everyone staying for dinner?” She shrugged. “Do you want them to?”

“It’s nice to be together.”

“I’ll coordinate it then. When Henry gets back, how about the two of you take a walk? I can strongarm Keith and George into not kicking up a fuss about it.” She nodded. “I’ll get to work then.” He stood and started to move away.

“Blake.” Her face turned up to his. “Thank you.”

Maureen suddenly felt like she was intruding on something she shouldn’t and back away. It only took seconds for him to appear.

“Elizabeth would like it if everyone was together for dinner, would that be possible?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m sure everyone will be okay with that.”

“I’ll assemble something that resembles a meal out of these casseroles then.” He started doing just that, working until Alison appeared looking for a snack. She smiled and greeted Blake with a one-arm hug.

“I didn’t know you were coming.” Ali pulled open the pantry door.

“I’m doing dinner, you dad’ll have my head if you start snacking now.”

Ali giggled. “He loves you too much for that.” She shut the door empty handed anyway before moving closer to him. “I guess he called you here to help with Mom?” Her eyes studied him. “Thank you for coming.”

==

It was early the following morning when Maureen let herself in, shooting a glare at the six agents standing on the sidewalk in the cold, cups of coffee steaming in their hands. She was surprised to hear someone up already. Almost to the kitchen, she caught Jason coming in from the back.

“That’s all the trash out.” The teen said. “Donut?”

“One from the left.” A voice spoke from out of view. “You can have more when everyone else comes down.”

Jason huffed, but took one donut and walked toward her. “Morning, Aunt Maureen.”

“Morning, Jason.” She turned, watching him clomp up the stairs. Turning back, she spotted Blake, in a fresh suit, studying her.

“How are you this morning?” He asked with sincerity.

She pulled in a ragged breath and moved forward, taking a seat at the table. “I think it’s finally hitting me.” He held up a coffee pot and she nodded. A minute later, a steaming cup and a raspberry muffin were on the table in front of her.

“Funerals are always hard.” He gathered his own mug and sat. “I saw a pond in the park a few streets over, does it ever freeze enough for skating?”

“You… you saw the neighborhood?”

“On my run.” She gave him a questioning look and he elaborated. “I went for a run this morning with two of the detail. The whole area is beautiful, has that small-town feel.”

“It does. What time did you get up?” It was still early.

“Four thirty.” Her brows shot up. “Gives me time to run, shower, check emails, grab pastries.” He gestured to the giant bakery box.

“Make coffee? This is really good.”

“It’s a thing I do.” He looked up over her shoulder and she turned to see her brother walking toward them.

“Morning Maureen, Blake.” He headed straight to the coffee. “Your special?”

“I did my best. The scones in the smaller box are vegan, when Stevie gets up, make sure she knows?”

Henry grinned. “Afraid you’ll forget?” He turned back to face them, leaning against the sink. “I heard Jason banging around.”

“He took out all the garbage. I asked him to be kind to his sisters today.”

His face fell as he stared into his mug. “I have a lot on my plate today. Everyone will be here soon to head to the church, I’m speaking in the service.” He wiped a hand over his face. “The gathering after.” The room fell quiet for several minutes, Maureen watched her brother battle within himself for most of it. “Could you just stay with her for the day?”

“Of course.”

Henry nodded, turning to make a second mug of coffee. “I’ll take this up to her.” He left the room with both mugs.

Neither broke the silence until Henry was out of sight. It was Blake who spoke first. “When I heard he died, I looked up your father. He and Henry were alike in some ways.”

She smiled despite the day. “They fought all the time.”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “Henry and The Secretary have the same problem with their kids sometimes, too much of the same kind of passion.”

They lapsed into silence until more family began to turn up, Jason and Ali joined the others and Maureen studied this young man that had been summoned to the house. He’d been right, he did fade into the background, pouring coffee and passing out pastries, watching everyone talk. Amid it all, after Stevie had appeared, taking the smaller box Blake presented her, she spotted her brother weaving his way through the bodies, catching Blake’s attention, and speaking softly in his ear. Whatever Henry said put a serious look on the younger man’s face before he skirted the family and vanished up the stairs.

Henry sank into a chair beside her, his own muffin in his hand. “Funerals are never easy.” He deflated.

“Where’s Elizabeth?” It was odd, even to Maureen, that the other woman hadn’t appeared yet.

“Getting ready.” He debated how much to say, but then carried on. “She had nightmares last night about… about someone who died earlier this year. Made for a long, sleepless night. I worry she’ll always have them when we have to face a funeral like this.” He frowned at his breakfast. “It’s not fair.” He went quiet, thinking, before looking back up at her. “Everyone down here needs me, so I sent Blake up. I’m sure they’ll be down in a bit.”

True to his word, Maureen spotted Elizabeth coming down the stairs ten minutes later, the young man following behind. Once with everyone else, the kids made a beeline for their mother to say their good mornings while Blake returned to the kitchen, whispering to Henry before making fresh mug of coffee and pulling out a scone.

“Morning Maureen.”

She looked up at Elizabeth. “Morning, glad you could join us.” It came out cutting, landing as it always did, before she even thought about it. Both men’s’ faces went hard, Elizabeth’s fell. “I’m sorry, I’m just… I guess this is hitting harder than I thought.” She stood to flee before her brother could comment.

It was Elizabeth who spoke though. “I don’t think there’s anything more painful that losing a parent. A child perhaps, but…” She trailed off, seeming to get lost in her thoughts before Blake tugged her into a chair beside Henry.

“Eat, Ma’am.”

“I’m not hungry, Blake.” She softly answered.

Maureen saw him open his mouth to rebut, but then close it again, instead turning away to clear up the clean counter.

==

At the church, she sat in the row behind Henry’s family. The three kids beside their father, Elizabeth on his other side, and then Blake at the end. It gave her a way to observe them all, her anger over the whole time since she’d discovered Elizabeth texting in the kitchen. As the funeral started, Elizabeth clung to Henry’s arm, leaned into him. Maureen thought to herself that if she hadn’t met him already, she would have thought Blake was a stranger to them. He sat somewhat apart, eyes fixed forward. It was when Henry stood to speak that Elizabeth seemed to even acknowledge he was there.

As Henry walked to the front, Maureen caught her sister in law taking the younger man’s arm, he didn’t seem to react, not until she sniffled anyway. Then he glanced down before producing a tissue from his inside jacket pocket. They sat like that as Henry spoke, her holding his arm tight until Henry returned to his seat. Elizabeth went back to her husband’s arm and Blake went back to studiously taking in the service.

Later, at the reception, Maureen found herself standing beside Henry in the line accepting condolences. Their families were scattered among tables. “Where’d Elizabeth go?” She could see the kids, but not their mother.

“We felt it was best if she sat out for a bit. Blake’s with her, he’ll text me if I’m needed.”

She’d almost reached the end of her frustration and confusion over the whole thing. “She’s your wife.” She snapped, keeping her voice low. “Why aren’t you with her?”

“Because I’m needed here.” He sagged slightly, turning to see the line was almost done, and pulled her away from the crowd. “There are things that have happened this year that you don’t know about.” He debated. “Elizabeth has PTSD, anxiety, so many things that come with all that. She doesn’t want people to know, says it will make everyone look at her different. I’ve lost count of how many funerals we’ve attended in the past year.” He swallowed. “One of those people died saving her life. I can’t…there’s more to it, but that’s all you really need to know. It really hasn’t helped the way you attack her like you do when she’s only tried to help everyone cope.”

“I-”

“I get it, you always think the worst of anyone, so seeing her texting some guy just confirmed for you that she was as bad as you thought. What you didn’t stop to listen to me about was that I knew who she was talking to because I knew she needed a minute away from you and the shouting. If you would’ve left her be like I asked… She would have come back and rejoined everyone else.”

“So, he’s what, her therapist too?”

“More like her sounding board. Like I told you, he’s family. He joins Jason and I doing stuff.”

“Stevie and Ali seem to like him.”

“I try not to think too hard on that one.” His lips curled into a half smile.

“Fine. I get it. Well, I don’t get it, the whole idea of having a personal assistant sounds…snobby and unnecessary, but…”

“Look.” Henry nudged her to turn around.

Maureen turned to try and see what he wanted her to look at. Across the room, Blake was leading Elizabeth back into the reception hall. His arm was around her, guiding her to a chair. Even from their distance, Maureen could see the glassy, relaxed look on Elizabeth’s face that she’d seen yesterday. “She takes medicine?”

“Sometimes.” Henry didn’t move until Blake looked around and spotted him, nodding. “Please, for me, learn to be nice to her.”

She watched Blake hover, one hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder, until Henry crossed to room. The two men shared a few words before Henry sat, pulling his wife to him. Blake instantly moved away, circulating in the room, speaking to people milling about.

“I swear he’s more diplomatic than she is.” Stevie’s voice made her jump. “Sorry, thought you saw me coming.”

“It’s okay. Been a long day.”

“Blake.” She gestured with her plate. “He’ll swear he hates people, but in the moment, I think he does this better than Mom.”

“Does what?”

“Greets people, talks to them, makes them feel known. I mean, normally he’s the invisible guy, the one who stands behind her whispering information so she looks good, but he does okay on his own too.”

Maureen alternated watching Blake and watching Stevie watch him. “He seems to be an impressive young man.”

“Has to be to keep up with Mom’s job. Oh, he found the McDaniels’. I wonder if he knows about the whole tree thing.”

She turned, sure enough, Blake was in a conversation with the couple, why they’d come she had no idea. Perhaps they were hoping to shake down her father’s corpse for the money they swore he owed. She could see Mister McDaniels frown, clearly grumbling about something, his wife looking equally as irritated. Then Blake began to speak, drawing them into a conversation and away from the path they’d been on, she guessed to the table Henry and Elizabeth were at. Eventually, with a smile from all three, he was guiding them out the front to the valet.

“And like that, crisis averted.” Stevie said. “Now imagine that in an event full of angry politicians.”

“What do you think he told them?”

“Who knows. Blake can convince anyone to do anything.”

‘He had Jason taking out the trash before seven this morning.”

“See, that’s what I mean. He convinces Mom to stop working and go home, eat, take…” She cut off. “Take time off.”

“Your dad told me. That she’s been suffering. That must be hard on your guys too.”

“Right after the…thing happened; it was really hard. It’s better now.” Stevie put her plate down on the table. “I’m going to go sit with Mom.”

==

Maureen wasn’t sure what to think. She’d been honest with her brother, the whole notion of a personal assistant seemed excessive and snobby. Once the family’d returned to the house, she’d heard Elizabeth ask him several times about work, each time he refused to answer, citing a previous agreement that she was in an information blackout until she returned home. The light teasing seemed to finally start to make Elizabeth relax.

As evening fell, Maureen found Elizabeth alone, or alone as she suspected she ever was, seating on the front steps. The security agents looked annoyed but were keeping their distance. She sat on the cold concrete next to her sister in law. “How are you sitting out here in the cold?”

“I guess… It makes me feel alive. Though Matt down there would really like me to go back inside.” She smirked. “He acts like Pittsburg is Tehran.” Her voice rose a bit for the last sentence.

“You never know, Ma’am.” One of the agents called back. “You’ve gotten in more trouble in nicer places.”

Maureen arched a brow; it was the first time she’d heard any of the men speak. “I’m sorry I went after you about Blake, he’s seems a nice young man.”

“It’s okay, he’s got a thick skin.”

“But I hurt you.” She shivered. “It sounds like he does a lot.”

“He does.” The front door opened and shut behind them; Elizabeth spoke without turning around to see who it was. “Who told you, Blake?”

Maureen twisted to look up the steps; the confident look he’d worn before had given way to a nervous one.

“Matt, Ma’am.”

Elizabeth shot a dirty look at the agents; but didn’t address them directly. “Fine! Just… a few more minutes and I’ll be in.”

“I’ll start hot cocoa.” He vanished back into the house.

Finally, she addressed the men on the sidewalk. “Traitors.”

The one who’d spoken before grinned. “I knew you’d listen to Mister Moran.”

She huffed but let it go. “I take it Henry told you?”

“Only that you were suffering, and funerals were hard now, he didn’t go into details.”

“At the beginning of the year, there was a failed coup in Iran.”

“I remember seeing it on the news.”

“I was there. I was in one of the homes that was blown up. I watched a man, a friend, get murdered before my eyes. Before his son’s eyes.” She swallowed. “Those men down there.” She gestured to the motorcade on the street. “Their sole job is to die for me.” She turned to Maureen. “The do risk assessments, constantly look out for danger, and keep me safe, but when things go bad… Their job is to be the one who dies instead of me. One of them did.”

“I- I don’t know what to say.”

“He had kids, he was smart and funny and… He threw his body over mine and died so that I had a chance to live.” She let out a ragged breath. “I spent most of this year afraid to go outside because it meant putting them in danger. I worried about the kids. About Henry.” She shivered. “I know you don’t like talking about depression and… all those things Patrick hid away, but… I know what it’s like to be in that dark hole and not see a way out.”

“But you’re okay now?” Maureen asked.

She caught Elizabeth start to look back toward the house but stop herself before she answered. “I had Henry… and Blake. There were days when one or both of them had to crawl down into that hole and just hold me while I screamed. There were days I thought it was too much. When I don’t know why either of them didn’t just walk away. I know Henry cried. Blake probably cried as well. Sometimes… Sometimes I lashed out just to make someone else feel the same amount of pain I did.”

“I never knew any of this.”

“I tried to pretend. I know my staff knows, but we don’t talk about it. It’s all taboo. So, I get that, not wanting Henry to press those buttons.”

Maureen couldn’t help her chuckle. “He does like to do that.”

“Did I guess right?” Elizabeth called out, to whom, Maureen wasn’t sure until footsteps behind them told her they weren’t alone. Steaming mugs appeared in their view before Blake took a seat on the step below.

“As always, Ma’am.”

Maureen sipped the cocoa. “Do you ever call her by her name?”

The question made Elizabeth burst out laughing, sloshing her cocoa dangerously and causing Blake to rescue it. “Don’t ask him that! Oh, please, save yourself, don’t ask him that. Blake, let it go.” She tried to get her mug back, but he held it up until she’d settled down.

“In the office, it is necessary as the assistant to always demonstrate appropriate obeisance. Out of the office, it maintains a line of professionalism that otherwise has vanished. Also, Henry’s a Marine, I have no intentions of ever giving him the impression I’m a threat.” He rattled off quickly. When Elizabeth offered her mug, he took a sip before handing it back.

She smirked at Maureen. “He’s afraid Henry will beat him up.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time Henry beat up a guy for looking at you wrong.” She replied.

“What?” Blake squeaked.

Maureen felt herself grin, watching them interact. They bantered back and forth until the front door opened again. Instead of turning, Elizabeth called out again. “Matt! Come on!”

“You sucked Mister Moran in, Ma’am. It was time for extreme actions.” This time, the pushiness didn’t bother Maureen as much. She looked at it with fresh eyes. These men had seen her be hurt before and simply were trying to prevent it from happening again.

“Come on, honey, it’s warmer inside.”

They all stood, Maureen waited for Elizabeth to start up toward Henry, glancing at Blake who was at her side. “Blake.” She stopped him, waiting till the couple stepped into the house. “I’m sorry.”

He studied her a moment. “Just so you know. She’s only told a few people what she told you. She… Henry finally told me one night. Three decades of how you treated her and she’s giving you an olive branch.” He turned and went inside, leaving her on the step alone.

==

Saying their goodbyes, the following morning, Maureen waved as the kids piled into the back SUV, leaving the adults standing on the sidewalk. She heard Blake offer to ride in the front vehicle, nearly insist really, but Henry nearly shoved him into the middle one before turning to her.

“I’m glad you were here.” She gave him a hug. “Just call if you ever need anything.”

He squeezed her back. “You too. When you’re ready, I’ll come up and help you with the house and Dad’s things.”

“I’ll let you know.” She pulled back. “Perhaps you could drag your Blake with you, he seems to have wonderful organizational skills.”

He laughed. “That he does.” He turned toward where Blake and now Elizabeth were sitting in the vehicle. “What do you say, Blake? When the time comes, you want to help clear this place out?”

“Whatever you need.” His voice wafted out. “I serve at the pleasure.”

Henry turned back to her. “Translation, he will come if I ask.”

“Ah.”

They heard Blake’s voice again. “You are not getting it back until we are at least an hour out of Pittsburg!”

“That’s my cue.”


	32. Boom

Blake was at his desk trying to reach Henry when diplomatic security stormed past headed for the office. He cursed, none of his calls were going through. He’d heard the bomb go off on TV from the outer office, he knew it was bad, and he knew that protocols had begun.

“Mister Moran.” An agent spoke.

“No, I just need to let the Sec-”

“Get your things, you are coming with us.”

“What?” The agent reached for his arm, but he pulled away.

“You’re on the list to go to the White House. Coat and whatever else you need, clock is ticking.” They both looked up as the other agents emerged from the office with the Secretary crowded between them.

“Yeah.” He grabbed his things, allowing himself to be shoved into the circle.

Things didn’t improve in the motorcade as they both attempted to get through on a jammed system, trying to reach any of the staff or the family. Blake split his focus between trying to reach _anyone,_ trying to stay upright in his seat, and keeping an eye on his boss.

Reaching Nadine, and then Jason, helped. Blake just kept replaying Nadine’s words about his job being to support. So, when the safety of the bunker was in sight and she turned and asked him to be the one to go to the hospital, Blake didn’t hesitate.

==

“I have a question.” Blake asked as the SUV rocketed toward the hospital. “How did I get on the list?”

“What list is that?”

“The bunker list. None of the other staff are on it, it’s usually reserved for the topmost and their families.”

“We don’t know how; your name was in the file.” The agent glanced back at him. “I can tell you it isn’t a simple add, the bunker can only hold so many people. Anyone who gets on the list has to be determined as necessary to national security.”

Blake didn’t know how to respond to that. When they stopped at the outdoor triage area, the security agents climbed out behind him. The one he’d spoken to stopped him.

“Just my opinion? Knowing MSec these last few years, I can tell you this right here is exactly why you made the list.”

“What do you mean?”

“She sent you here. I guarantee she’s dove right into the sitroom and has put this out of her mind. Because she has to to do her job. Also, because you’re here.”

==

Blake ran through the hospital in search of the room Henry was in. Critical was bad, everything looked bad. At least he’d been able to confirm with his own eyes that the kids were fine, that was something, but he needed to find Henry. “Excuse me.” He held up his badge again. “I’m trying to find Henry McCord, they said he’s critical.” The woman in scrubs hesitated. “McCord, recognize the name? Secretary of State McCord’s husband, I need to see him.”

“You can’t. I can take you to his room, but you can’t go in.” She shook her head.

“Tell me everything.” He followed behind her, blocking out the background chaos. When they got to the room, Blake froze. It looked bad. “Will he pull through?”

“Hard to say just yet.”

“That’s not a choice, he has to pull through. Is there a way to talk to him?”

“Not at the moment.”

“Okay. I need to reach the Secretary, then you need to explain everything to her.” He pulled out his phone, dialing the President’s assistant.

After the doctor finished, Blake took the phone back and listened, plugging his other ear. “Ma’am.” When she didn’t respond, he tried again. “Ma’am.”

“Yeah, Blake.”

“Where are you right now?” He closed his eyes as well against the onslaught of the busy hospital.

“Hall outside the Bunker.”

“Find somewhere to sit. Is there a place?”

“Yeah, yeah, there’s a chair.”

“Put your head down. Block out everything else. Focus on your breathing.” He gripped the ever-present bottle in his pocket. _Useless place for it now._ “I have the kids, they’re fine. I can see Henry; the doctors are caring for him. He’s in good hands.” He listened to her breathing. “Just take a minute.”

After a few minutes of silence, she thanked him and hung up. Staring at his phone, Blake wondered when he’d become so confident with handling everything.

==

“You have to let him call!” Blake was on the verge of shouting by now. The only thing keeping his raised voice at bay was he could see Henry was insisting the same thing inside the room. “For the sake of national security, let him call his wife.”

The nurse raised a brow at him. “National security? Really?”

“That’s the Secretary of State’s husband, I can’t imagine she’s all that clearheaded right now while he is status unknown and we’re about to go to war on our own soil over a dirty bomb that almost killed him and the rest of their family. Yes! For the sake of national security, let him make that call.”

==

Blake had found the kids in the chapel and made sure they ate and were okay on their own when he got a call from diplomatic security. “Yeah?”

“The Secretary is on her way to the hospital; the order was lifted. Where will you be meeting her?”

“I’ll meet her right inside the doors to the critical care unit. Wait, wait, how is she?”

There was a pause. “As you would expect.”

“Right.” He ended the call and went in search of something to eat and drink. It was going to be a long evening.

==

Guiding her to her husband, Blake pressed the cup of juice into her hands, frowning when she only took a sip before passing it back. When she didn’t try and talk to Henry, he worried even more. “Are you okay, Ma’am?”

“No.” She stood at the window for several minutes before turning. “I think I’m done.”

He knew the kids were waiting, but they would understand. “Come here.” He used his free hand to guide her into a quieter area. “Please, drink the punch. I promise it’ll help.” He sat them both on a bench. After she took some more sips, he remembered. “Oh, I also found this.” He pulled a bag of cheddar popcorn out of his pocket. He’d found it in a vending machine.

For a moment, she lit up, but then tears flooded her eyes. “Popcorn.” After that it was just sobs, Blake pulled her close, putting the juice and bag to the side out of the way.

When she finally pulled away, he really took her in. The lines of stress, the worry, the way the whole thing weighed her down. “You do need to eat. And drink.”

“Oh, boy do I need a drink.” She huffed.

“Then I’ll find you a place to wash up and we’ll get to the chapel.” He opened the bag of popcorn and handed it over.

“Thank you for being here.”

“Where else would I be?”

==

The family was safely home. All of them. Finally. Blake paced his apartment before calling the one person he thought, _hoped_ , would help him process.

“Good evening, Blake.”

“Nadine.” He sighed, sinking onto his couch. “Today has sucked.”

“Full disclosure, Matt is staying at my apartment tonight. I’m sitting across from him now.”

“Oh.”

“It’s fine, if you don’t mind, I just didn’t want you to realize later is all.”

“I don’t even care. I just need a good drink and after today, I’m not sure that’s the greatest idea.”

“Worried about drinking alone?”

“Yeah.”

“Come here then. I don’t mind, really.”

Thirty minutes later, Blake found himself being let into Nadine’s apartment. “This is like six of my place.”

“What’d I tell you!” Came Matt’s voice from further inside, making her smile.

“Come. Sit.” She headed for the kitchen for drinks, surprised when he followed and sat at the island.

“I spent the entire day…” He wasn’t even sure how to finish.

“Being the supporter?”

“Yeah. It was touch and go for a while. The kids were worried.”

“And how did you feel?” She passed him a glass.

“Afraid. I think more than anything, I felt afraid. I feared being the one there when he died. The only one. I had a lot of time just standing in the halls, going between Henry and the kids, just being there and… I was afraid.”

“But you made it through.”

“This isn’t gossip, I’m sharing because I don’t know how much of a hair trigger it will be in upcoming days, but she started to have a panic attack outside the bunker.”

“When you got there?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I was at the hospital; we were on the phone. The doctor had just spelled out Doctor McCord’s condition.” He downed his drink and pushed the glass across for more. “Were you ever on the bunker list with Vincent?”

“No.”

“I didn’t know till today that I’d been added. So, there was that bombshell that someone high enough up agreed that I was no longer a nobody and then the place I was supposed to be, she sent me from, and she was…” He stared at his glass. “It felt like I was failing her. Listening to her gasp for air outside a bunker while we waited for another dirty bomb to go off and finish the job.”

“Did she have it?”

“Have what?”

“The panic attack.”

“No. I talked her through.”

“Then you didn’t fail.”

He considered that for a bit. He wondered how well he’d be able to do this job without Nadine there as his sounding board. “The worst part?” He looked up and saw her nod. “She got there, and he was asleep. He was still in isolation. I found a quiet place and she just fell apart.” He took another sip. “I didn’t know what to do to help.”

Matt suddenly appeared in the kitchen. “I’m sorry. I swear I wasn’t trying to listen.”

“It’s fine.”

“I remember working for Marsh. And I know what it’s like working for MSec now. Today at the office was… hell. But Nadine was right, we had to pull up our sleeves and get to work.” He found a seat beside Blake. “That’s our jobs. And we did that. You did your job too. And because we all did what we were supposed to, we survived another day.”


	33. A Part

“I have your schedule cleared still, Ma’am, everything with the college is ready to go.” Blake’s voice filtered up from the speaker where the phone laid in the bathroom counter. “All staff know to run everything through Nadine.”

“Good, good. And you really don’t mind coming along?”

“Not at all.”

“Because I can’t imagine hanging out with just Alison and I will be all that fun for you.”

“Well, Henry told me he couldn’t get off work. I’m just wrapping up some things at the office and then we’ll be able to get on our way.”

“Thanks, Blake. I really mean it. The past couple months have been… so crazy. I think I need this break as much as I need the time to just do this with Alison.”

“I understand that.”

==

“I know now why Mom and Dad like you so much.” Stevie said from the couch. He gave her a curious look. The whole college trip so far had been surprisingly disastrous. She turned in her seat. Her mom was still arguing behind the closed bedroom door and Alison had retreated into her headphones. “I know the security guys look out for her, that’s their job.” She sighed. “Ever since that time at the State Department, that lockdown, I guess I’ve been a little more observant of all of her staff and security. Those guys… That confetti thing went off and their first response was neutralizing the threat. Before that it was to keep those kids at arm’s length. They make a circle of space around her.”

“Protocols dictate how far away they have to keep people depending on the crowd.” He shared, poking around in the paper bag for more fries. “If she’s out for a walk in DC, low threat, they are further away.”

“They grabbed Ali and I. But you grabbed Mom.”

“That’s part of my job.”

“Is it?” She studied him; Blake recognized the look from his boss. “Thank you, by the way. Ali was right earlier; she doesn’t pay you enough.” She smiled. “So far today you’ve memorized the entire tour schedule, anticipated breakfast and lunch… You stocked the fridge over there with all the right snacks.”

“And?”

“And… I just hope you know we all appreciate what you do. We don’t take it for granted.”

“Thanks.”

==

Blake opened the door to his room to see Matt, the DS agent, standing there, cheeks read from the cold. “Where have you been?” He stepped back to let the bigger man in.

“MSec and the girls decided to go sledding down that hill on cafeteria trays.”

He couldn’t help but laugh.


	34. Rome Burning

Blake looked up from his work to find Russell staring at him with a frown. “How may I help you?”

The older man’s hands were shoved in his pockets and he twisted, as if to point with a shoulder. “Can we talk somewhere?”

He glanced around and then at the ever-present schedule on his screen. “I can give you fifteen minutes.” He stood and led the way to the conference room, pulling the doors shut. When he turned, Russell was at the far end of the room.

“I need a favor.”

Blake’s face hardened. “I don’t work for you. And I’m not some pushover you can manipulate.”

Russell’s hands came up. “No, I know. This is… it would be between you and me. Look, I know you’re friends with Henry and I know you’re left out of a lot of what he’s been doing for work because of clearances and secrecy. I can’t read you in, unfortunately. I tried, I tried to get Bess read in too.” He huffed. “I- I guess what I’m trying to say is, things are going to happen, soon, that I don’t have a lot of say over. Can I get your assurance that you’ll keep and eye on… things…when they happen?”

“You think it will be bad.”

“I tend to think in worst case scenarios. Probably why my blood pressure is like it is. Hopefully the best case happens, and I’m worried for nothing, but I need to know, if it doesn’t, that you are also thinking of worst case as well.”

“A plan for when Rome burns.”

“Precisely.”

He considered a second, if Russell was seeking him out for this assurance, then the odds of Rome burning mustn’t been too outlandish. “I will plan accordingly.”

“Thank you.” He started for the doors. “And, Blake?” He turned back. “If Rome does start to burn from your side of the city? Please give me enough warning so I can save mine.”

“I will.” He watched Russell leave. Alone in the room, Blake wondered exactly what Henry had agreed to do.


	35. Away

“Caffeine or a pillow?” Blake brushed into the office as the Chinese prime minister left.

“Huh?” Elizabeth looked up at him.

He stopped, really getting a good look. “You know what? I’m clearing the next ninety minutes; you need to sleep.” He turned on his heel and dug in the closet, pulling out the blanket from the top shelf.

“I have too much to do, Blake.”

“Nope.” He rounded the desk, the blanket over his arm, and made to pull back her chair.

“I’m fine!”

“Your blink rate has increased; your eyes _look_ like they hurt and…”

“I look tired, got it.” She allowed him to shepherd her to the couch and pass the blanket over. “Blink rate? Really?”

“Ninety minutes.”

“That’s an odd amount of time.”

“A normal sleep cycle is forty-five minutes, ideally that gives you two which should be enough to allow you to dive back into things.” He watched her get settled, arranging the pillows, and setting her glasses aside. “Try to get some sleep.”

“Yeah.”

He returned to his desk only to see Daisy headed straight toward the office. “No.”

“I just need to-”

“No. An hour and a half, not a single person is to enter that office unless there is literally a dead body to identify or we have proof of war. And even then, I’m still sure it could wait.”

“O-okay.” She turned and walked away.

Exactly an hour and a half later, Blake reentered the office, closing the door behind himself for privacy. He hoovered a minute. There was still no word on Henry, he’d checked, knowing it would be her first question upon waking. He had his own extraordinarily strong, and mixed, feelings about what Henry’d done that he’d have to deal with later. For now, his mind ran back over a short conversation he’d had that morning in the hall over at the White House with his boss.

_“What if he doesn’t come back, Blake?”_

_“He’s a former Marine, Ma’am.”_

_“Even Marines die. He has no military backup, no real plan.” She’d turned, her hands tossed up in defeat. “He swore he’d always come back to me but… What if he doesn’t?”_

_He knew she needed to get down to the sitroom. But she also needed to be shored up. “He will come back, Ma’am. But if, for some crazy reason, he didn’t? We would still carry on.”_

_“I can’t do this job alone.” She’d started to turn away._

_“You’re not alone.” His words had made her turn back. “And so long as people remember him, Henry will never truly die.”_

He felt the same sentiment now, watching her sleep. It didn’t erase the overwhelming urge to go to Pakistan, find Henry, and throttle him for staying behind.

Accepting that the world was still turning, and they needed to keep it from burning, Blake finally spurred into motion. He shook her arm. “Ma’am.”

She hummed, but barely stirred.

“Ma’am, it’s time to get to the White House.”

“Oh. Yeah.” She pushed to a sitting position, reaching for her glasses. “Any word on Henry?”

“No, Ma’am. But we’ll find him.”

“I hope so.” She rose, leaving the blanket for him to deal with as she headed for the bathroom. “You were right.” She spoke through the door. “I needed that nap.”

When she reappeared, he opened the office door. “I’m glad you feel better.”

==

Blake held out two weeks after Henry came back before he approached him.

“So, why are we here?” Henry asked as they settled at a table away from the bar.

“I have struggled to process this emotional…weight, I’ve been carrying. I fight not to bring it into work, but I have to figure it out.” He drew in a breath. “And I told myself I needed to figure out of I was all in or all out, no halfway and… I’m afraid of my decision either way.”

“Okay, you’re going to have to start further back than that.”

“I was so angry at you for staying in Pakistan after you could have died in that bombing. And I do get it, I’ve never been in the military, so I don’t understand that type of call to act. But I spent endless hours standing there worrying about you _for_ her and then I…” He stared into his drink.

“You what, Blake? We agreed years ago, open communication.”

“She’d been on the edge of panic the whole time and then she saw you and just…cried.” He swallowed half the liquid in his glass. “When you weren’t on that helicopter?” Blake shook his head. “I was angry.”

“Okay.”

“I haven’t been able to work out exactly why I was so angry.”

“Because I was risking my life again?” Henry leaned forward. “Because you thought I was hurting her?” He sighed. “Look, I get it and I’m not upset about it. It’s those feelings that are why I think you’re the exact right person for this job.” Henry drummed his fingers once. “I’m sorry. I never considered the wider implications of me doing certain things. That someone else has to, at least temporarily, do clean up.”

“If you died doing something… Well, if you died in general, it would destroy her.”

“She’s stronger than that.”

“She’s that strong because of you, Henry.” Blake finished his drink. After several minutes of silence, he finally leaned in. “I heard VP was on the table.”

“It’s not officially official.”

“She deserves it.”

“She’s been reluctant. She actually admitted she loves her job.”

“Wow. It’s a good next step.”

“Next step?” Henry questioned.

Blake gave a knowing smile. “You didn’t see her behind the big desk.”


	36. Protocols, Part 2

Five

Blake typed furiously at his desk. Nadine, Jay and Elizabeth were in Geneva for the week, which meant his job was significantly less complicated. He enjoyed the peace. Moving a finished file away, he started on another when his phone beeped with a message from Jay. ‘Blue five’.

Thumbing his phone awake, he scrolled through his contacts as he recalled the various McCord schedules. He stopped over Jason’s name. He knew Jason was home by now. Debating, he finally dialed the number. “Jason? It’s Blake. Can you do me a favor?” He listened. “Can you call your mom and just tell her about your day? I think she’d like to hear from you. And, don’t tell her I called you, let her think it’s just a random call. Great. Bye.” He disconnected the line and texted back. ‘Jason should be calling any minute.’

‘It’s ringing now. Thanks.’ Came the reply.

==

Six

The first blast outside the embassy had diplomatic security running for their charge, grabbing her arms and hauling her in the opposite direction. The rest of them, they were on their own. Matt had been standing closest to Nadine and hadn’t hesitated to cling to his friend as they both rushed to follow the agents. The rest of them did their best to keep up, Jay, ever the carer made sure he was last.

A second blast rocked the building, and someone screamed. Maybe more than one someone. And Jay’s world went dark.

Daisy looked up as the motorcade came into view through the dust and rubble falling from the sky. “Wait! Where’s Jay?”

“We’ll send people to look for him, we have to get to a secure location.” One of the detail replied.

“We can’t leave him.” Elizabeth gasped, suddenly aware one of her close friends was missing. Turning back, she made to run back toward the crumbling building, only to have the detail catch her again by her arms and stop her. She did her best to resist as the rest of the staff shouted, trying to keep her from going back. Determined to achieve their goal, two of the agents hauled her up off the ground and forcibly shoved her into the vehicle before slamming the door.

The rough handling only added to the anger from watching the burning building grow smaller, Jay somewhere inside, as they raced to a secure location. She hadn’t calmed by the time they reached the safehouse. “We need to go back! Jay’s in there!”

“Ma’am, we’ll find him, but you have to stay here.”

Stunned by her emotional outbursts, the other simply allowed them selves to be herded in. Matt approached Blake and spoke softly. “What should we do?”

He just shrugged, already checking his phone for news.

“This is too much.” He shook his head, taking a seat and sagging forward.

==

Everyone had remained quiet during the wait; the air was thick and dusty. Hours later, one of the agents came in to report that so far, they hadn’t found Jay, which seemed to reignited Elizabeth’s determination to be allowed to help. When the agent held her back from following them out, she reacted again.

Matt found Blake and Daisy in the corner and sat with them. “I think detail are making things worse.” He whispered. Blake’s brows knit in question, making Matt lean in. “At the embassy? She was upset but compliant… Up until they grabbed her. It spiraled from there. When we got here, same thing. And now…” He gestured to their upset boss.

“What are you thinking?” Daisy had leaned in as well as he’d talked.

Nadine finally joined them, half sitting on the arm of Matt’s chair. “As a very petite woman, I can tell you I have a real problem with tall or big men standing too close. It creates this overwhelming panic. If they then grabbed me and started forcing me to do something? Well, there’d be a good chance I’d break something.”

“His nose?” Matt smirked.

She turned to him and deadpanned. “I’m not that tall. Look. Maybe it’s time we try some diplomacy with the detail. Maybe we need to see if they will let us try and calm her down before they fall back on physical restraint.”

“Can’t hurt.” Daisy agreed.

“I’ll go talk to them.”

The next time an agent came into the room, this time to say Jay had been found alive though injured, Nadine met him at the door and kept herself firmly between he and Elizabeth. Once he explained Jay’s condition, it was she who asked when they could go see him.

==

On the plane home days later, the rest of the staff gathered around where Jay was propped up. Elizabeth was on the phone somewhere further back in the cabin. “What’s up?” He looked at them expectantly.

“While you were in the hospital, we ran into a few issues.” Nadine started. “I and then Blake talked to the detail and we have come up with a moderately acceptable solution, but it means we all have to do what we can, every time.”

“What’s that?”

Blake took over. “MSec hates being handled by the detail. Nadine, and Daisy, pointed out to Matt and I’s lizard brains that it’s very disempowering for a woman to have these huge guys grab them and haul them off. Nadine talked to Frank while you were missing and they agreed to a trial attempt at letting one of us help herd her.”

“Okay. I mean, it makes sense. I know I’ve seen her resist them before, well… She’s mostly compliant, you’re right, until they get physical.”

Matt nodded. “We thought it could be a protocol. Make it official that we help diplomatic security in their job of protecting her. I mean, by extension I suppose it makes us safe too, because they aren’t looking for us when they’re evacuating in a crisis.”

“Also.” Daisy spoke up. “This is the first time we’ve discussed adding something since that drinks night. I thought we should always have a vote before we add an issue to the protocols. I mean, we all have to agree to support it anyway, right?” She watched them all nod. “I was thinking a unanimous vote for any adds.”

“So, is this where we vote then?” Jay asked.

“Does anyone have questions or concerns?” Nadine asked, they all shook their heads. “Okay then, hand in favor. Do we add assisting the detail in managing MSec?” She raised her hand, the others followed suit. “I guess that’s that then.”

==

Seven

Daisy rushed into Nadine’s office. “A car just plowed into the crowd at the childhood cancer event. The driver was unconscious at the scene, no details on him yet or what happened, but it’s a mess.” She flipped on Nadine’s television. The screen filled with aerial video of hundreds of people, ambulances, and police crowded into a park. “A reporter who was on scene says there are reports the driver appeared to be unconscious before the impact, rumor is it was a medical event and not an intentional attack.”

“Have you heard from Matt or Jay?” They were with their boss today at the event.

“Blake was trying to get through.”

The man himself hurried in. “My calls didn’t go through, but Matt texted me blue seven.” Both women’s faces fell. He looked at Daisy expectantly.

“I haven’t heard any reports of deaths, but the stand that was hit was for crafts, word is there were likely two or three dozen kids there, plus their parents.”

Blake’s phone rang and they all jumped. “Jay, you’re on speaker.”

“Guys.” He was panting. “We’re all okay. They’re still pulling kids out and loading them up. Detail is pissed beyond all recognition but Matt and I convinced them that making a scene wasn’t in the best interests of… anyone. MSec is running on parental impulse right now, holding it together. I’m keeping reporters at bay until you give a press release, Daisy. Matt’s writing as fast as he can as things unfold.” He sighed, trying to calm his breathing. “She wouldn’t want this story to be about her, if the reporters run with that, she’ll be right back where we were a few years ago.”

“I understand.” Daisy rushed to her own office.

“Blake?” Jay questioned.

“Yeah.”

“I can guarantee two things from where I’m standing. She’s going to demand coming straight back to the office to handle this and… And she’s going to need a change of clothes. There’s a lot of blood and… She’s holding some of these kids as they’re being assessed and comforting them. There’s going to be a lot of fallout.”

“I’m on it.”

Hours later when the trio returned, Blake watched as Matt and Jay slowly walked toward his desk, Elizabeth was between them and she looked bad. He nodded at Jay and turned, leading the way into the inner office when they other two men waited outside. “I put a change of clothes in the bathroom for you, Ma’am, and there’s tea and some food on the desk.”

“Thank you.” Her voice was pitched low.

Nodding, he stepped out and pulled the door shut, only Jay remained waiting. “So?”

“Matt went to help Daisy. I know we can’t say it, but she was a hero out there, helping move debris and triage the kids. Once we did get back to the motorcade though, she went silent. I know it takes time to process a tragedy like this, but with the already existing PTSD…”

“Yeah. And kids are the worst trigger.”

“That too.”

“I’ve already cleared the day and spoken to Henry, I know she won’t go home, but she’s not going to be doing much.”

“Okay. Well, Matt wrote a really nice speech for Daisy to give at the press conference. I know MSec will want to watch it, he swears it won’t agitate her and Daisy’s already working out responses to reporter questions.”

“Then all that’s left to do is circle the wagons. I already put food in there, so hopefully things stay quiet for a while.”

Daisy gave them a heads up twenty minutes later that she was headed into the press briefing. Blake slipped into the inner office, turned on the TV, and then stood back and waited. The news cut to the press room and she began to talk. “At just before noon today, a seventy-four-year-old man suffered a cardiac event and lost consciousness while behind the wheel of a car. His car then plowed into an outdoor event that was bringing awareness to childhood cancers. Hundreds were in attendance, including Secretary McCord. We are relieved to be able to report that no one died in this incident, however, dozens of children were injured. But, they are already survivors and we have faith that they will survive for years to come.

“I know many of you have asked me questions about Secretary McCord’s response and actions to this accident. She was there and, as a mother herself, she did what she felt was necessary to aid the emergency response personnel in caring for the victims.”

The reporters erupted; Daisy called on one. “Will the Secretary be acknowledged for her heroic actions?” Out of the corner of his eye, Blake saw his boss tense.

“The Secretary was simply a bystander to the event. She will be speaking to the families once things settle down and honoring the men and women of the emergency services who rushed to save lives.”

“But not herself? There are reports of photos of her holding children and directing medical help to the most injured.”

“She was simply acting as any compassionate person would.” She pointed to another reporter. “Yes?”

Ignoring the rest of the briefing, Blake turned to the sofa, where Elizabeth was seated.

“I need to thank Daisy for that.” Her voice still soft.

==

Eight

Daisy stood in horror as the ambassador exploded with rage, ranting and throwing accusations about MSec’s role in the deaths of several civilians during a raid. She knew that it wasn’t the first such set of accusations thrown her boss’s way since the raid had happened and she also knew that Elizabeth blamed herself. Their intel had been partially wrong, the leader of the organization had been in the house, but he’d also had several women who so far had no ties with him. Eyes on her boss, she caught the harsh exhale, the way her chest moved as she tried to control her breathing, and the hard swallow and tension in her neck. Glancing at her tablet, the screen dark, Daisy spoke up. “Ma’am, you’re needed on a call to the president.” It was a good excuse, no ambassador, no matter how angry, would dare claim that was a call that could be ignored, and it gave her a good reason to make the ambassador leave.

“Thank you.” Elizabeth rushed from the conference room back to her own office with Daisy making quick apologies, texting Blake to see the irate man out with a quick tag ‘blue eight’ following the request.

Letting herself in, Daisy shut both office doors. The bathroom was closed, Elizabeth’s jacket and shoes were on the floor, sure signs of just how upset she was. They all knew that a certain sign she was getting upset was the impulse to want to shed her suit jacket or scarf or anything that seemed to add to the feeling of being close it. Through the door, Daisy could hear her crying, so she poured some tea into two mugs and carried them to the coffee table and took a seat. The day had sucked. It had started before sunrise with word of a weapons dealer causing fresh trouble in Africa and had devolved from there.

Eventually, Elizabeth stepped out, eyes still red. “Daisy.”

“I made you tea.” She patted the sofa beside her.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I told Blake to push back a few things.” She ignored the comment. “How is Alison liking her stay in New York?” She knew the younger McCord daughter had been spending the summer in the city getting first hand experience in the fashion industry, it’d been an opportunity that the staff had used some of their connections to make happen, not that they admitted it. They all liked Alison, Daisy especially. Sipping her tea, she sat back and listened to her boss start to gush about her daughter’s summer.


	37. Blue Protocols, Part 3

Nine

There were days Matt wondered exactly why he’d stuck with this job so long. It definitely wasn’t for the cushy hours, low stress, or great pay, that was for certain. Writing speeches for the most powerful woman on earth, his own words, was exhausting. It did, however, give him a chance to travel places and see things he never imagined when he was growing up in Illinois. His diplomatic passport was filled with memories of places he been.

One the big trips, he had his friends with him as well as the ever-present DS agents, whom Matt got along with. Today, though, wasn’t a big trip, the secretary had been asked to go to New Orleans to speak at a college. It was the kind of trip even Blake didn’t join her on. The only reason Matt had found himself on the plane as well was his boss had given him a smile and had suggested they could hash out the speech he’d written on the trip down.

No big deal.

As they were all leaving her office, she’d tacked on that hotel they were staying in was in the French Quarter with a smirk. The add had made the others suddenly share their jealousy at his luck at getting to go without them and more than a few had begged to go as well, but the trip didn’t warrant the cost of the full staff.

The speech had gone fine, not that he’d doubted that. She’d gone off script a few times, but Matt was long past taking any sort of offense and even left places now where he expected she would. No, the speech had been fine. As had the gathering after. In their line of work, though, sometimes it wasn’t the big things that knocked you flat. Sometimes it wasn’t a terrorist or gunfire or any of the other possibilities.

Sometimes, it was just a little hole.

==

Matt opened his hotel room door, surprised to see his boss standing in the hall. “Ma’am?”

“Can I come in a second?”

He nodded and backed up. “What’s up?”

She turned and smiled at him, it was a smile both Blake and Jay had complained about before. “Think we can sneak past my detail?”

_Yep_ , Matt thought to himself, _screwed._ “In New Orleans?”

“It’s late, anyone who’s out is drunk, and no one is looking for me. Come on, Matt, I know drinking with your boss isn’t your idea of fun, but it’s the French Quarter.”

Twenty minutes later, Matt found himself talking to the guys in the hall while she slipped down the back stairwell. Blake was going to call him weak.

The drinking hadn’t been too bad, Matt knew his boss wasn’t as uptight as her office persona presented. When she dodged a few calls, replying by text so they wouldn’t be able to tell she was not in her room, his brows rose, but he said nothing.

He couldn’t blame her, it was hard being told no all the time, the agents had had no plans of allowing her out of her room at all. The rest of the staff were able to come and go as they pleased, but she was the equivalent of Rapunzel. As that thought slid through his mind, he decided that maybe it was time to wrap things up. He made the argument and, thanking him for playing along, she’d agreed to head back to the hotel.

Matt jumped inside; they were headed back! And then, she tripped, crumpling to the ground beside him with a cry of pain. His heart nearly stopped.

“Ma’am! Are you okay?” He knelt beside her, seeing she was holding her ankle. “Let me see?” It was already swelling and turning angry purple. “This is bad, you need a doctor.”

“You have to help me back to the hotel.” She shook her head.

“I can’t help you! I’m a words guy, not a broken body parts guy!”

“It’s not broken.” She sucked in air between her teeth. “It just hurts a lot.”

“Ma’am. Please, I’ll call an ambulance.”

“It doesn’t need an ambulance.” She gripped his sleeve with one hand. “Just help me up.”

He sagged, rolling his head. “This is a horrible idea. This whole thing was a horrible idea!”

“Matt!” She snapped. “You have a choice here, help me or face the wrath of six agents, Blake, and my husband.”

“That just the short list. And I’m already in deep because I went along with the plan to sneak you out!” He stood anyway, pulling her upright on her good foot. “Can you stand on it?” She tried, nearly collapsing and crashing into him. He looked around and saw a bench. “Let’s just…sit.” He nearly carried her to the seat, wondering how they would make it the four blocks back to the hotel and inside without being seen. Pulling out his phone, he started with a message to Daisy, the least likely to rip him a new one.

_Blue nine.  
This is bad._

What happened?  
Isn’t the engagement over?

_Yes. We were put in our rooms for the night.  
MSec did not wish to stay put._

Oh, no, Matt. You didn’t.

_We are four blocks from the hotel, a few drinks in, no agents, and I think she broke her ankle.  
She says it’s not broken._

Dude, you need to call detail and have them pick you both up.  
Then call Blake.

There was a pause where three dots drummed at him. He spared a glance to his boss, but she seemed distracted by her swelling ankle.

Nadine walked in to say goodnight, you’re on a clock now because I totally told her, and she went to see if Jay’s still here.  
Blake is still here.

_Crap._

With a huff, Matt tabbed over to Blake’s name.

_Blue nine.  
I screwed up.  
I got sucked in, I knew better._

The reply was instant.

_-What did you do?-_

_I helped her sneak out without detail, we went to a bar. We almost pulled it off._

_-But?-_

_But she tripped on a hole in the sidewalk and broke her ankle or something.  
She says it’s not broken._

_-My god, Matt, can’t you say no to a pair of blue eyes batting their lashes at you??-_

_Can we put a pin in how I screwed up for now?  
She doesn’t want me to call detail to be picked up._

_-Time to grow a pair, Matt, she doesn’t get a choice.-_

“Matt, who are you texting?” His head snapped up at her voice.

_-Her choice is how you ended up in this mess.-  
-Also, this is why detail makes her stay put.-_

“No one?”

She groaned. “You’re texting Blake, aren’t you!”

“I need to be able to help you!”

_-I sent them your GPS from your phone. Sit tight.-_

“I can’t believe you, turning on me like that.” She grumbled.

“I can’t believe you thought I wouldn’t cave at the first sign of a problem.” He rebutted, earning himself a glare that might’ve been terrifying if it wasn’t mixed with pain. “And by the way, Ma’am, you’re a lot less scary than Blake.”

==

Ten

Blake was working at his computer. Nadine and Jay had ridden that morning with the motorcade to pick up the secretary, they were all headed together to the White House. It was one of those days he so rarely got, the crises were scheduled to occur somewhere other than in his realm and that was just fine with him.

_Blue nine._

Blake shook his head at Jay’s message. “Nope, not to-day.” He spoke out loud before typing back.

_-Nope. I have my day all planned out to go smoothly.-_

_Come on, man. One trip to the WH and I’m sure it gets sorted out._

_-I don’t have time.-_

He huffed, who was he kidding.

_-What’s wrong?-_

_She has a migraine. Which, given the rant RJ was on, I’m not surprised.  
Let me modify that- She has a migraine and is pretending we aren’t aware.  
She flinches when we talk louder than a whisper and she’s wearing her sunglasses. Inside._

Blake shook his head. How she hadn’t learned to just trust them with these things yet, he didn’t know.

_-Chocolate?-_

_I’m wearing the wrong coat.  
Nadine… Hold on.  
Nadine had white._

_-That’s no good. And she won’t drink coffee?-_

_I think the smell’s a problem._

_-And if she’s denying there’s a problem-_

_She won’t let us directly help her.  
Exactly._

Accepting that his day was getting a wrench tossed in, he began to gather his things, ducking into the secretary’s office and locating what he needed before heading for the elevators. He opted to walk over; he figured the fresh air would calm his frustrations.

==

Eleven

Nadine stood in the corner of the hospital room. She’d already sent the others away, no need for them to bear witness. “Ma’am.” She softly tried, but Elizabeth didn’t seem to hear her.

A cartel had grabbed her, she’d only been missing less than two hours. But Nadine understood, two hours was plenty long enough to destroy a person. Nothing had been said about how the agents had found her, the only word had been that she’d been found. They’d rushed to the hospital only to be stopped, George stating that only Daisy or herself should go it. Daisy had almost immediately bowed out.

It was a bit of their job no woman wanted to think about, the risk of being a target. A victim. As Nadine waited, she could see, her boss had been the victim of something. “Ma’am.” She tried again, stepping closer. Still no response. Drawing in a steading breath, she moved to the side of the bed, reaching out to touch her arm. “Elizabeth.” Whether it was the name or the touch, Nadine didn’t know, but her boss jumped. “Can I let a doctor in to look at you?”

“I’m fine.” Her voice was rough when she spoke. The kind of rough, Nadine thought to herself, that followed lots of screaming.

“I’m sorry…” She kept her voice soft and low. “You can’t leave until a doctor looks at you.” She watched Elizabeth flinch. “What if… What if you told me about it first?”

At first, she thought the question would get her pushed out, or simply more silence, but after a long silence, Elizabeth gasped. “Okay.”

As she listened, Nadine realized, the pain was only just beginning.


	38. Hang

Nadine closed her eyes and drew in and let out a very measured breath. She opened her eyes and stared. Stared at the man whose body was now swinging at the end of a rope. A man who was supposed to be saving Algeria from the tyrant beside them, who she was well aware they were now at the mercy of.

Beside her, panic and fear were rolling off Blake in waves. She couldn’t blame him; this wasn’t exactly a situation either of them ever anticipated experiencing. She couldn’t afford for him to drop the ball though, they needed to stay sharp, paying attention to every nuance, every twitch each official made. They’d listened to their boss demand for the execution to be stopped, but Nadine could hear in her voice that stopping it had been a long shot. When that tone crept into the Secretary’s voice, Nadine knew that options were running out.

Tugging Blake’s sleeve slightly, Nadine spurred him into motion when Elizabeth began to storm out of the room. “Keep moving.” She hissed against his arm. Looking up, she could see in his eyes that he already was fighting the urge to react to what had just happened. “Think about something else.” As they all rushed to the waiting motorcade, Nadine tried not to blink, the sight of that body hanging was there every time her eyes closed.

Piled into the back of the limo, Nadine looked between the two other occupants. Both looked in about the same state, anxious, breathing erratic and shaking slightly, but Nadine knew that while Blake’s was mostly from the unexpected experience of a front row seat to a murder, the Secretary’s was also mixed with anger. They would need the anger to find the solution, but they would also need Blake to have his head on straight to manage everything. So, she took the seat beside him, leaning forward so she could force eye contact and kept her voice low. “Talk to me. Now.”

There was too much of the whites of his eyes showing as he shook his head. “Did that just happen?” He whispered back.

She glanced across the small space at their boss who appeared to be busily dialing her phone. “You have to pretend it didn’t.” She saw him swallow hard and then give a slight nod. “We will have time to freak out later, I promise, but right now we have a job, _you_ have a job, and I need you to focus on that.”

It was Blake’s eyes this time that flicked across to where the Secretary was now speaking to the President on the phone. “Yeah, focus.” He drew in and let out a shuddering breath.

Making a split decision on what might help him find his footing the fastest, Nadine reached out and pulled him down and into an uncharacteristic hug. “It’s going to be okay.” She whispered into his hair before releasing him to sit upright again. She gave his hand a squeeze before nodding across to their boss and then sat back and watched as he allowed himself to fall into the role he did so well, the familiarity of it acting as a bit of a balm to his mind; pulling out a bottle of water from the bag at his feet as well as a package of cookies before moving to the other set of seats and twisting the lid off the bottle, pressing it into the Secretary’s hands even as she spoke on the phone.

Releasing a shuddering breath of her own, Nadine sat back and watched, they were all going to struggle after this one, she could feel her own anxieties welling up now, but the job would keep them going for a little while. They had a country to save.

==

Security had rushed she and Blake onto the plane as soon as they’d pulled into the airport, neither had argued. The Secretary paced on the tarmac, talking again to the President. Nadine knew the agents were hating that she wouldn’t just come inside, but it gave her time to assess just what sort of state she and Blake were in. “We have a few minutes, Blake. If you need to get something out, please do it before the Secretary comes up those stairs.”

“I’ve never seen someone die before.” There was a panicked waiver in his voice. “Did we cause this? Did we…” His hands flapped in the air and then he stilled. “Oh my god.”

“What?”

“He did all of this because the ambassador died. The ambassador was angry because of the independent run for POTUS, his anger is why he died. Russell Jackson, senators, like…everyone, has been blaming the Secretary for POTUS leaving the party… Is this-”

“No.” She snapped, cutting off that line of thought. “This was a madman taking advantage of an opportunity to do what he planned to do anyway.” She watched his eyes bounce around the cabin without really landing on anything. “She’ll be up any second, are you going to be okay?”

“I don’t know.”

“You can’t freak out. You can come by my place tonight and I will supply the booze and you can freak out there, but we have a long flight home and you can’t freak out.”

“Okay.” His head bobbed up and down. “No freaking out.”

==

The plane was halfway over the Atlantic and Nadine let herself curl on in her seat, content in the fact it seemed everyone was pushing through okay after witnessing the hanging. In fact, out of the three of them, two were already asleep, slumped across from one another at the other table. Deciding she should probably rest her eyes as well, Nadine let her head fall against the window and her eyes shut. The peace lasted all of thirty minutes before a desperate cry cut through the quiet, jarring her out of her own seat to franticly figure out what was going on. Across the aisle, Blake’s eyes were wide, his breathing hard, as the sound died on his lips.

Nadine hurried to his side. “It’s not real, Blake.” She tried to reassure him as he surfaced from what she assumed was a very realistic nightmare. “It’s not real.” He muttered something between gasps that she didn’t catch. “What?”

“He wouldn’t take me instead.” He began trembling under her hands. “Excuse me.” He started to try and get up, pushing her back before she even had a chance to slide out of the way. She attempted to scramble clear as fast as she could before watching him flee to the tiny bathroom.

It was quiet a moment before she could hear the pained sounds of someone trying to hide the sounds of heaving, she stared, worried, at the little door before glancing toward where there boss was resting, only to be surprised to find her eyes open and watching. “Nightmare.” Nadine supplied softly, almost as an apology for waking her.

Elizabeth shifted in her seat but didn’t straighten up, no need to stand on formality on the plane, they were all too comfortable with one another for that. “Understandable. The first time seeing someone die is something you never forget.”

The comment struck Nadine for a moment before she remembered, Elizabeth was CIA, so even before becoming their boss, she’d likely already had that experience decades ago. “Yes.” Something compelled her to justify why she wasn’t as upset as Blake was. “I was travelling with the dance troupe, a few years before Roman.” Nadine started. “It wasn’t as dramatic I guess, but there was a car accident, some of us were out walking the city and the collision was… horrific.” She licked her lips. “A mother and child were in one car, not buckled… They were ejected. The child landed almost at our feet.” She didn’t continue, just met the Secretary’s eyes and shook her head. She knew she didn’t need to go into the details, not with Elizabeth.

Another sound came from the bathroom and drew Elizabeth’s attention away. “We need to check on him.”

Nadine swallowed down the feelings of hopelessness and despair and stood, it was only a few strides to the door and then she tried to knock with no luck. Flipping the cover on the door, she engaged the emergency lock release and pushed the door open. “Blake.”

Somehow, he was curled on the floor, breath coming in short bursts, hints of sweat at his hairline. Nadine felt her chest squeeze, she hadn’t even considered nightmares, had only wanted to calm him enough that he didn’t rattle the Secretary.

“Come on, let’s sit.” She tried to prod him up, but he didn’t seem to hear her. With a heavy sigh, she tried to work out how to best help him, staying where he was wasn’t going to calm him down.

“Is he- oh.” Elizabeth’s voice made Nadine aware the other woman had joined her. “Just stay with him a second, I’ll go get Matt.” She vanished to the back where the detail were seated.

Nadine crouched down to hopefully catch his eyes. “Hey.”

“I think I freaked out.” His gaze caught hers briefly.

She gave him a sad smile and patted his leg; behind her she could hear the Secretary and an agent coming closer. “It’s okay.” She rose and moved out of the way, watching as Matt offered his hands to help Blake unwedge himself from where he’d somehow sat. “Sit here.” She pointed, leaving no room for arguing before ducking away. When she returned, the Secretary was back in her seat across from him so Nadine to the empty space beside him, setting a bottle of scotch on the table along with three cups. “This should do the trick.” She filled the cups, handing the fullest one to Blake. “Drink this one, when you get the next one, start talking.”


	39. Quiet

Matt stood and stretched. Their flight, like most they took, had taken off long past business hours, after an already long day of working. His coworkers had wasted no time, like himself, getting settled and catching some sleep. They had a certain level of familiarity now, and they were all creatures of habit, so even in the dim cabin light, he could make out where everyone was. He’d been stretched out on one side of a table, feet jutting in the aisle; Jay, who, now as a father, never passed on time to rest, across the table from him. They hadn’t even pretended to do paperwork first. Across the aisle were Nadine and Daisy, sleeping sitting upright as they always did, pillows against the windows. Unlike he and Jay, they had files spread out, tablets that had long gone dark.

Matt moved toward the bathroom quietly, it was no good accidentally waking someone too soon; a lesson they’d each learned at one time or another. Coming back, he was faced the front and could see the front tables. Blake on the left, asleep in his seat, lit by the blue light of his laptop screen. The only concession to comfort was the sight of his shoes on the seat diagonal.

Looking to the right, Matt paused. With everyone else, it was simple to tell if they were awake or not, but their boss, well, that took more attention. Moving up the aisle, he spotted a drink balanced on the edge of her table as well as her heels kicked off under, neither clues to the answer he sought. He collected the cup though, no sense in allowing a cold and wet awakening should they hit turbulence. He was almost to the galley when he heard her voice.

“Thanks, Matt.”

After the cup was dealt with, he stopped at her table and looked down. Now that her eyes were open, he knew she hadn’t been asleep. “You should get some sleep.” He pointed out for no reason. It was nearing two in the morning to their bodies, at some point they would all have to face the pain of skipping so many time zones.

“I was thinking.” She sighed, turning her gaze out into the darkness.

“About the minister?”

She didn’t answer, he hovered until he decided she had no intention of answering, before deciding to move away.

“About silence.”

She didn’t elaborate and he didn’t ask further, eventually he returned to his spot, feet up, to return to his sleep. He began to pull on his headphones, Matt was used to noise, but then he hesitated. The cabin was silent, save for the drone of the engines. He wondered, for the first time, what he might find if he let the silence be.


	40. Support

“You have a stalker?”

“Hello, Blake, how are you?” Elizabeth stepped off the elevator.

“Good morning, Ma’am. You have a stalker?” He repeated, falling into step beside her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“DS knew.”

“Since when do I rank lower on information than your detail?” They’d made it through the office, past his desk, and through her doorway. Without missing a beat, he began collecting her scarf, and coat.

“You don’t. Look. I already have Henry going caveman over my safety, DS has increased by two, they wanted to add more than that, and I just…” She sagged into her chair. “I need one person to still be normal.”

“I could st-” He cut off when her hand came up.

“No. I can’t go home to fighting both you and Henry for a bit of fresh air. I can’t deal with both of you at once. It’s hard enough when I already know you two conspire against me on a regular basis. Plus, my house is surrounded by security.”

“What about when he goes away?”

“I really don’t see that happening during all this.” She smirked.

“What about in Vietnam?” He saw her hesitate. “You argue you have Henry at home and DS outside, but when you go to Vietnam, you’ll have four agents, that’s it.”

She gave a laugh. “You think someone will get to me in Vietnam?”

“Did you think someone would get to you in your house?” He knew it was a bit of a low blow, even as it came out.

“Blake…”

“I’m going.” He stated.

“To Vietnam? You hate going places that are humid.” She began sorting paperwork. “What’s eating you, Blake?” She shifted the conversation onto him.

“Matt told me what happened in Africa.” He rushed forward, taking a seat. “You could have been shot.”

“I was fine.”

“You have a penchant for walking into highly charged conflicts.”

“That’s the job.”

“And it’s hard to do that job if you’re dead.”

“Blake, come on, that was a low blow.” She saw his jaw was set and stood, rounding the desk to sit on the front edge. “Fine, Vietnam.”

“Thank you.”

==

He’d almost convinced himself that he’d overacted, that the stalker wasn’t as big of a deal as he’d imagined, until a few weeks later.

He laughed as she talked, headed into her own office. He really didn’t mind coming in so early; it was nice to accomplish some of the more mundane parts of his job without the bustle of the other staff.

“Blake!” The way she called for him made him freeze, there was fear in her voice.

Dropping everything, he rushed in. “Yes, Ma’am?” She looked like she’d seen a ghost. “What’s wrong?” Following her gaze, he turned, dropping his coat as he stared up at the giant letters sprayed on the wall.

“Call the FBI.”

“Right away.” He didn’t move out though, instead crossing to her. “You don’t need to look at this.” He guided her back into the outer part of her office. “Give me a second.” The early hour meant he had to leave a few messages before he got a response, while he waited, he called down to her detail and then Henry, filling him in.

“I’m on my way, Blake.”

“I’ll let her know.”

“Wait, Blake… How is she?”

“As you would expect.” There was a moment of silence before they both hung up, Blake rushed back to where she sat on the sofa. “FBI and Henry are on their way, Ma’am.”

“This is an escalation.” Her eyes were downcast. “You were right. I’m not safe anywhere.”

“I would have been happy to be wrong.” He heard her sniff and raised his arm, allowing her to curl into his side. “You can’t do it though.”

“Do what?”

“Quit. Then they win.”

“If we don’t catch them soon, then what is the escalation from this?”

He didn’t like the odds on that question. “The FBI will catch them.” That sat in silence, no one was allowed up until the FBI and Henry arrived, so there was no risk of someone wandering through. When Henry rounded the corner, Blake nudged her. “Henry, Ma’am.”

She was on her feet and in her husband’s arms in an instant. “They violated my office. My space.” He heard her say.

“I know. I’m here.” Henry mouthed a thank you to him. “We’ll figure this out. Until then, you won’t go anywhere at all alone. Got it?”

“I have that war thing.”

“And you won’t be alone. Ma’am.” Blake answered, wanting to reassure Henry more than worried about irritating his boss.

==

The rest of the world, France included, didn’t care about the stalker. Blake had thought, though, that at the least, the people they worked with on a daily basis would have been slightly more considerate. But then they had to work with Russell Jackson. When Russell turned to storm out after his rant about fixing France, Blake stopped him with a hand to his chest.

“Get out of my way.” Russell had snapped, glowering even more when he realized Blake wasn’t cowed.

Blake kept his face firm. “You really don’t know when to stop, do you?” He hoped, as Russell hesitated before walking away, that the Chief of Staff got the message.

==

_Black._ The text appeared on Blake’s phone. He frowned at it until her realized it was from Henry.

I thought you were going to the State Dinner.

_I am. But I will have some of my own networking to do._

Black it is. He was almost done dressing for the dinner as it was, so he dug out his black tie. He was meeting up with Jay and the others there.

Daisy already had a glass of wine in her hand when Blake found them. “Oh good, she’s here now?”

Blake shook his head at her. “I didn’t come with her, she’s with Doctor McCord tonight. They had something to settle with the president though, they’re around.”

“Over there.” Matt gestured.

“Good. Because ‘Secretary of State Misses state Dinner’ is not a headline I want to have to justify.” Daisy relaxed.

“She could have used the French’s flu excuse.” He chuckled.

All three turned to look at him.

“What? They seemed to think it was an acceptable excuse.”

“Well, I think we all deserve this party.” Daisy walked away.

“Would it be weird to ask her to dance?” Matt was watching her go. Nadine’s exasperated cough was enough response to have him following Daisy.

“So.” Nadine closed the space between them. “Rough week.”

“Very.”

“I heard you stood up to Russell Jackson.”

“I wouldn’t have called it that.”

She turned and raised her brows. “In Russell’s world, that was a full tactical assault.” She chuckled. “Look, he doesn’t have time for grudges and believe me, he understands loyalty. Appreciates it. Looks like you’re up.”

“What?” The sudden topic change threw him. When she gestured wither glass, he turned to the dance floor to see Henry and Elizabeth walking their way.

Henry put his hand out to Nadine. “I’d like to have another round.”

She finished her drink and placed the glass on the table. “I’d love that.” She took his hand.

Blake watched them go, smiling as Henry didn’t hesitate to pull her close. After several minutes, he turned. “Would you like to dance?”

She smiled. “Thought you’d never ask.” She let him lead her to the floor. “How do I look?” It was a question she asked almost daily, rushing from meeting to meeting, generally the question was perfunctory, a way of asking _do I have everything I need._

“You look beautiful.” He filled his words with sincerity. “I’m glad the week ended on a good note.”

“Me too. A part of me can’t believe who was causing me so much agony.”

“I can believe it.” When she gave him a questioning look, he clarified. “People who have lots of money, they use it to wield power. They start meddling and playing god. I saw a lot of that in finance. It’s why I left.”

“Yeah, well, I get that. I was so ready to quit.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Me too.”

“I would’ve been out of a job.” He joked to lighten the mood a bit. “I don’t have a plan B.”


	41. Vacation... Yeah, Right

Two weeks. He had two weeks of vacation time banked and he’d reached the use-it-or-lose-it point and he would have been willing to just lose it, except it turned out that when members of staff reached that point, their superiors were informed. The claim was that it was a way to get the bosses to encourage employees to take the time off, a hard thing to do working in the State Department. But Blake had zero intention of leave.

Especially for two weeks.

“Everyone needs days off.” He heard the words coming out of the Secretary’s mouth and he knew, they were words he’d said himself on more than one occasion. To her.

“But you need me here, Ma’am.” He asserted.

“Blake. I spent a lot of years taking care of myself, I’ll be fine. I promise.” The smile she gave him was part teasing and part kindness.

“Fine, Ma’am. If you insist. But not at one time.”

“Okay, a week this month and then a week next.”

“No, I meant, maybe a day off here and there.” He insisted.

“That’s not a vacation.” She stood, indicating to him that the conversation was over. “Next week, go somewhere, have fun. I’ll be fine.”

He nodded. It was all he could do. There was no arguing with her, he’d have to take the week off and figure out how to keep everything running without her knowing.

==

“Blake, you’re supposed to be on vacation.” Nadine answered her phone with. It was early Monday morning and he was already checking in.

“I know, but the schedule.”

“Is fine. We have it under control.”

“Fine. Just… Make sure there’s coffee and breakfast ready when she gets in. Mondays are when Doctor McCord tries to do the ‘big healthy breakfast’ thing and she manages to avoid it every week.”

“We will take care of it, Blake.” She pressed, already in her office trying to start her own day.

Blake sighed. “Call me for… anything. I mean it Nadine. The written schedule is the easy part.”

“We won’t be calling you. Have a good week.” The line disconnected before he could respond so he huffed at the screen before flopping on his couch. What was he expected to do with an entire week free?

==

Ten stress filled hours. Blake had gone jogging, had done all his shopping and dry cleaning, and had cleaned his condo. He was more stressed out now than after a full day at the office.

His phone chiming drew him out of his misery.

_Okay, perhaps you were right._ Nadine’s message came through.

His heart jumped into his throat. What happened?

_I had a meeting, so Jay did the morning review. We were all at the elevators just now to leave and I learned he didn’t do as you reminded this morning._

Blake groaned. Who took her lunch then?

Three dots drummed on the screen teasing him for much too long. _It turns out you may be the most vital person on staff._

Well, if that wasn’t the most pointed non-answer ever. Is she still in her office?

_Yes. She’s quiet, working on paperwork._

Desk or couch?

_Desk._

Blake rubbed his temples, an ache creeping in. If she’s hunched over, she probably has a headache. Water and two aspirin, they are in my desk drawer.

And for the love of all that is holy, take her food and stand there until she takes at least three bites, or she won’t take any.

It was another hour and a half before he got another message from Nadine. _Handled._ Was all it read.

He flopped gracelessly across his bed; vacations were stressful.

==

Tuesday Blake found himself wandering the National Mall determined to discover peace and tranquility. There were no messages from the others, which he hoped was a good sign. He met an old friend for a late lunch, chatted about anything but work, and enjoyed a drink. It was going so well until the twenty-four-hour news station playing over the bar began to drone on about peace talks.

“Rough gig, not sure how you do it, man.” He friend shook his head.

“Sorry?” When the friend gestured with his glass to the TV, Blake turned in time to see his boss, Jay rushing in her wake, exiting a building, and climbing into her motorcade.

“Working at State. That has to be a miserable job. No one wants peace.”

“Yeah.” He trailed off. His friend wasn’t wrong, he often wondered if their entire job wasn’t one big pointless exercise. He wasn’t interested in the reporter’s comments on the talks though, he was worried about how she was doing. Without thought, he pulled out his phone and found Jay’s number. She hated being handled, but vacation or not, that was his job. Tell the driver to make a stop somewhere.

_Where?_ Came Jay’s reply almost instantly.

Doesn’t matter. Think of something. Saw you and MSec of TV, trust me, don’t take her straight back to the office.

“Everything okay?” Blake’s head shot up, startled by his friend.

“Yeah, fine. Just wanted to make sure something got taken care of.”

“She’s your boss, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Man. Woman like that, that is either the best or worst job in the world.”

“It is.” He sighed, not clarifying either way.

==

Wednesday and Thursday, the team shut him out entirely. The Secretary had found out from Jay about Blake’s keeping tabs and had threatened to pull phone logs and fire anyone who reached out again. No one was willing to test the veracity of her statement.

Not until late on Friday anyway.

The first message was from Nadine. _A plan fell apart overnight. RJ keeps barging in every time his anger renews. Don’t know about MSec, but it’s setting me on edge._

Later it was one from Daisy. _Please tell me you caught the news conference._ He hadn’t, but her question compelled him to search the internet for it.

The one from Matt that followed less than an hour later was more worrying. _I’m not the suavest guy in the world, I’ll admit that, but I am almost certain I have never treated a woman the way some men do._ On a Saturday night, the random comment would have made Blake chuckle, mid-day Friday, it made him worry.

He had just talked himself out of doing something completely rash when Jay’s text pinged on his phone. _Does your vacation time include the weekend?_ That was all it took to make him throw on a suit and make a dash for the door. Whatever was happening, he needed to be at the office.

Rushing off the elevator on the seventh floor, Blake frantically took in the area. All the normal day staff had already gone, the halls were nearly silent. He made it as far as the outer office when a hand tugged on his elbow. He whirled around and stared down at Nadine.

“Peek first.” She whispered. So, he did. Moving just far enough across the room that he could see her on the low sofa by the wall, leaned forward looking at paperwork. An action he’d seen her do an uncountable number of times. It was when she lifted the loose sheet to turn the page that he caught the flutter of the paper. “I’m sorry.” Nadine spoke again. “You make it look easy.”

He smirked only a moment. “We all make our own jobs look easy, isn’t that the point?” She nodded. “I’m here now, leave everything to me.” He assured her before drawing in a fortifying breath and stepping into the office, gently closing the door behind him.

“Nadine, I said go home.” Elizabeth snapped without looking up, her tone telling Blake so much.

He tugged his jacket and moved toward her, hoping he exuded more confidence than concern. “I’m not Nadine, Ma’am.” He was to the table by the time she looked up at him. “And I’m not leaving you.”

“Blake? W-Why?”

He ignored her for the moment, instead collecting the paperwork and moving it to the side. “You didn’t go home last night and after all the effort you’d put in, everything fell apart anyway. For which Russell Jackson pinned blame solely on you. Repeatedly. And loudly. Then, and frankly I can’t rule out Mister Jackson’s role in it yet, you were ambushed on live TV in a press conference about said disaster that was _not_ , by the way, your fault. Of course, then a senator decided your press thing was a sign that as a woman, you are simply too weak for a job like this.” He saw the look of shock on her face. “By all means, stop me if I get it wrong, but I’m not done. You are over-tired, under-fed, and stressed out with no outlet because you prefer to get at least some of it out of your system before you drag it home to your family, but you have been bottling it all up so you don’t dump it all over the staff.” He paused, staring her right in the eyes. “How am I doing so far?”

There was a beat and then a failed attempted at a smirk. “Do I need to have my office swept for bugs, Blake?” He waited wordlessly. Eventually, she sagged as if her strings had been cut.

“I am good at my job, Ma’am. _This_ job. The one that keeps things going so no one has to think about them. I took a week of my vacation, I beg of you, please do not force me to take the other week.”

She drew in a deep breath and then let it out. “You have to have time off, Blake. You need that decompress time or how…”

“How what, Ma’am?” He finally pressed.

“If you don’t have that time to unload your things, then how will you have the ability to carry mine?”

“Not for you to worry about, Ma’am, leave everything to me.”


	42. Team McCord

It was after midnight and the house was dark save for the glow coming from the open refrigerator. The soft sound of a huff of amusement made Blake jump and swing the door as he was met with a smirk on Alison’s face. “I didn’t hear you come down.”

She only shook her head. “I was hungry.” She motioned for him to back up and then fished ice cream out of the freezer, passing it to him as she went in search of bowls and spoons. “Why haven’t you just moved in?”

“Because that would be weird?”

She rolled her eyes. “I promise, it would be less weird than you pretending to live out of a duffle bag.” They leaned up against the counter and started working on their ice cream. “So?”

He realized she was still after an answer to her original question. “I don’t think I have a good answer for you.”

“Can I tell you what I know?” She looked up at him. “I know we all see you as a part of the family now, it’s actually weird when you’re not here. Kind of like it’s weird when Stevie isn’t here.” One shoulder lifted and fell in a shrug. “Just seems silly to pay for a place across town when you’re here most of the week anyway.”

“Team McCord, party of six?” His lips curled at the corners.

“Better numbers for game nights.” She finished her treat and started for the stairs. “Blake, think about it. You’re in our fridge at midnight without even worrying that anyone will care, in your pajamas. You started simply adding your dry cleaning to Mom and Dad’s ages ago for convenience sake, you pitch in with groceries and school runs and everything else.” She pointed out. “Laundry, chores, you even come and go when we’re not here. Jason even asked Stevie and I ages ago why you were still pretending.”

His brows knit together; he was already pondering on it so hard he almost missed her goodnight as she vanished up the stairs. Alone in the silence, Blake wandered through the first-floor darkness. The den was littered with the remains of a scrabble game that had been abandoned, the kitchen table was covered in school books Ali and Jason had been working on. He knew come morning Henry would be hollering up the stairs for them to move their stuff so everyone could eat. The kitchen was tidy, but he’d been the one after dinner to clean up, insisting it was his turn.

Walking toward the front of the house, Blake could see the way the streetlights glowed through the curtains, shadows of the night shift detail milling around out front. The entry made him pause. The coat tree had two of his own coats hanging among the McCords’, a pair of his loafers at the base of the stairs forgotten, beside Henry’s forgotten pair. The bowl on the entry table had his keys right along with theirs and his briefcase was tipped underneath in a pile caused by the way Elizabeth always simply dropped her bags, knocking his and Henry’s over like dominos.

Turning to the office, he stood in the doorway. Henry’s desk was spread with academic work, an abandoned coffee mug in the corner; Elizabeth’s was a mountain of files in four stacks, two at either end. Her own plus his laptops asleep in the middle. Letting his eyes roam to room, he realized one shelf was holding more of the books he enjoyed, filed up off the floor at some point along the way. Perhaps Alison had a point and he was kidding himself, he was a part of Team McCord already.


	43. Ride Home

The flight out to Manila had been business as usual. Boarding the plane, all their things had been dropped in seats on one side of the aisle, their binders and paperwork dropped onto the table on the other. Blake headed to dig out drinks and snacks, and verify appropriate secret stash levels, while his boss took a seat on one side of the table. Once the food was found, he took the side opposite. They did this all without any discussion now, too many flights over the years to need to. Later, as the sounds of the engines droned on, he’d feel her kick off her heels, her feet making an appearance in the seat beside him. Pillows and her large shawl that served so many purposes would be pulled out and then, eventually, she would fall asleep. Blake always kept watch, though, working through emails and then his own stack of paperwork before pulling her stack over and looking things over to see what he could help with. It was their routine.

Later after she’d woke up, it would be more food and then conversations about Henry and the kids, occasionally her brother, Will, or anything else that was on their minds.

It didn’t take him long after they landed to realize the flight home would be anything but normal.

==

Blake stood in the hall between Matt and Keith, scanning emails on his phone, filtering out the true junk from the things that needed his immediate attention. The agents were never talkative, busy listening to their surroundings in the otherwise quiet place. A sound, though, made his head shoot up. Through the heavy door, he heard his name. “Something’s wrong.” He shoved his phone in a pocket.

Keith gave him a confused look. “What?”

“She shouts my name on a regular basis, trust me, something’s wrong.” Grabbing the handle, he tried to yank the door open as diplomatically as he could, his eyes scanning the room as soon as he did. The Philippine president was in a chair, leaned forward with his back to Blake, he was angrily saying something Blake couldn’t catch. The Secretary, though, was standing, her back to a serving table along one wall. Panic was rolling off her in waves and Blake rushed across the room to help with whatever was going on. As he moved past the chairs, he saw the blood, the president was holding napkins to his face, his nose, and there was so much blood. “Ma’am?” He stepped closer and lifted his hand to reach out, as he always did, but she flinched and pulled away. Blake froze. The implications of that flinch ran a chill through him.

She was already trying to collect their things from the other table, he could see her hands shaking horribly. Another bad sign that made his heart drop.

“I’ll get it, go with security.” He insisted, leaving no room for argument. The guys must’ve heard him because they started closing in to collect the Secretary. Blake knew the current, most important issue was to clear out and get back to the safety of their rooms, so he began stacking their binders and computer together, turning to find her coat on a chair and add it to the pile.

“Tell Elizabeth, she better not say a word.” The president hissed.

Blake paused, looking the man in the eye. The angry words made him wonder exactly how bad things could have gotten in the short amount of time the pair had been alone. He opted not to respond, worried any response from him would only add to the problems, and rushed from the room to catch up to where the detail was all but hauling his boss to the SUVs.

==

He was the one who forced Matt and Keith from the room, though he understood their compulsion to remain standing sentry. Once the door shut, he turned and took her in. “Do we need to go to a hospital?” He asked with as much gentleness as he could muster. His mind was firmly on worst case scenario. If things turned _that bad_ , would she have held off calling out to avoid embarrassment.

“I need to call POTUS.” She evaded, taking the laptop, and turning to a chair tucked in the corner. Pulling it around, not so subtly blocking herself off.

“Call Henry first.” Blake pressed, almost begging. He really wanted Henry to be read in on this situation as fast as possible because he was rapidly moving out of his depth.

“No. It’s all falling apart; I need a plan to fix this.” She insisted, even as her voice and hands shook. “Please, Blake.” She turned to him and he could see she was desperate for some plan to cling to.

“Okay.” He gave in. He needed a moment too. Shutting the bedroom door, he pulled out his own phone and dialed Nadine. “I need to talk.”

“Talk? Or…talk?”

“Are you somewhere private?” He urged.

“Oh, this is a bad talk.” She answered even as he heard her moving around in the background. “Okay, talk to me.”

“I think President Andrada just assaulted the Secretary.” He blurted. “Like… in that way.” He sucked in air. “I was in the hall. She called out my name and … He was sitting there with a busted nose and she was eager to flee as far and as fast from him as we could move.”

“Fight and then flight, huh. Is that all?”

“He threatened me that she couldn’t tell anyone.”

“That’s telling.”

“Yeah. When I went to her… She flinched. I- I- I don’t even… In all these years, all the things that have happened she’s never…” He couldn’t find the words to spell out how that felt, the fear it filled him with.

He heard her sigh. “Blake. If what you think really happened, then she’s still in the moment of trauma. Just… back off a bit.”

“But…”

“You know where you stand, we all do. She just needs time to mentally right the boat so to speak.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Think of it like a chalk circle. We all walk around with one. Only certain people are allowed inside that circle. But when we have been hurt, violated, we want to reclaim that circle for ourselves.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” He dropped to sit on the end of a bed. “Where do I stand?” Confusing laced the question.

She laughed. “Blake. Only two people are inside the Secretary’s chalk circle. Now, I’ll start back channeling to track the fall out. I’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks.”

“Oh, Blake?” He heard her call out.

“Yeah.”

“Hospital?”

“She said no.” He dropped the phone and thought for a few minutes before standing and opening the door. From that spot, he could only barely see her in the chair, she was talking to POTUS and Russell Jackson, the later cracking jokes at her expense, which even from his position, Blake could see was only making things worse. Blake stepped forward to make any excuse to end the call, but a knock on the door ended any chance of that happening as military officials pressed into the room, forcing their evacuation.

He so wanted to tell the detail to take her to the motorcade, he’d clean up their things, but he remembered Nadine’s comment about needing to right the boat and take back some control, so Blake let it go until they’d made it back to the airport and onto the plane. He was suddenly thankful the plane staff and security automatically left them be with no fuss. Without any preamble, he watched her pull out her shawl and burrow away. Unsure what to do for her, how to help, he waited.

==

It took two hours in the air before she emerged from her place curled into a corner. “Thank you.” It was soft and, at first, he wondered if she’d even spoken at all.

“I shouldn’t have left you alone.” He answered, it would be an oversight he would regret forever.

“He wouldn’t have talked. It was my job to talk to him alone. And now I must figure out how to save the Singapore deal. I’ve just created so much more work for all of us.”

His jaw dropped. “Your job is to put your own health and needs first. And you didn’t tank this deal, President Andrada did when he decided to strongarm the world into playing into his fantasy world and then assaulting you when you tried to save his people.” He wasn’t sure when he’d stood up, anger over the entire situation pulsing through him. “I’m sorry.” He turned to excuse himself and made it as far as the doorway before she stopped him.

“I turned my back.” He paused, waiting, and listening. “At first it was just things that in the back of my mind screamed ‘ _get out’_ , my instincts then were telling me to call out for you. But my job…” She sighed. “I told myself I couldn’t allow my personal discomfort to interfere. And then I turned my back. I should have seen it coming.”

Blake spluttered. “You should have seen assault coming?! In what world does that even make sense?”

“Any woman’s. That’s our job.”

“I can’t accept that.”

She finally turned to look at him. “Blake…” She shook her head. “That moment keeps repeating in my brain and, and I can feel him. How do I explain it to Henry?”

“He’ll understand. And maybe you could… talk to Nadine? You might find it easier over the phone first and… If you’re right, she might be a good ear.”

“Admit to another member of my staff what he did?”

“She, uh, might already know? I was… I needed advice. Nadine’s been my sounding board of sorts for a long while now. I only told her what I suspected which… I hope you’re not mad about it, I just needed to know how to help you.” He hadn’t done it to gossip, he’d been genuinely worried.

“I understand.” She picked up her phone from the table. “I’ll talk to her.”

Blake finally vanished to the back, hiding out until a message pinged from Nadine.

_Just hung up with MSec.  
As a woman, I will say this, but don’t you dare repeat it, it could have gone much worse. But that doesn’t make it less bad.  
It’s trauma, trauma takes time.  
Try not to take the manifestations of that to heart._

Blake took it as the sign it was safe to head back to the front and made the move. She was in her normal seat, wrapped in her blue wrap. He looked at the chairs a minute and debated before gesturing the one next to her. “Mind if I sit?”

She glanced up, then nodded.

Blake got settled, unsure what to do next. “I’m sure I’ve said this before and if I haven’t, I apologize for the lapse on my part… This stopped being just a job a long time ago, you and Henry, and the kids, you are family to me. If tomorrow we were all out of a job, you wouldn’t be rid of me. I am always in your corner, even when I don’t agree with decisions you have to make. I’m here to listen, to celebrate, to be cried on and screamed at. If you need me to give you space, I will. But I will always be there when you call for me.”

The cabin lapsed back into silence; Blake hoped his declaration hadn’t crossed a line. He worried on it until a weight landed on his shoulder. He looked down to see her head leaned there.


	44. Outsider

Andrea watched the group of senior staffers walk past her desk, just like they had every day since she took the new position eighteen months ago.

==

_When word had come down about her reassignment, some of her coworkers had felt sorry for her, they’d told her seventh floor was brutal. Jeff, who’d temped up there a time or two, had told her that the chief of staff frowned upon any sort of casual attitude and kept them all working at a tense pace. On one of his days there, he’d said he watched the woman dress down another member of the senior staff publicly. Emma, who worked in press, said that everything was under a microscope and was managed closely._

_Andrea had been nervous, on her first day she’d already had a transfer request written up and waiting, but when she’d arrived, plenty early to impress everyone, the floor was still nearly empty save for a few men and women she’d later learned were the senior staff. Her desk was the closest to the secretary’s personal assistant, a good looking but highly focused guy that didn’t sit the entire morning. As she got her things situated, she watched him vanish in and out of the corner office, pausing only to berate someone about some pastries with a smirk on his face. Andrea was almost able to block him out until a chime sounded at his desk. She looked up to see him drop everything, straighten his jacket, and collect a coffee cup before vanishing down the aisle. What came next, she learned quickly enough, was a variation on a daily routine._

_Minutes later, Andrea got her first up close look at the Secretary of State, surrounded by her senior staff as they all rapidly spoke in turns. The coffee had apparently been for her, it was in her hand now, and the assistant had a purse and briefcase in one hand and was tugging the woman’s coat off as they all moved. It was loud and it was fast as they blew through, and then the room went quiet._

_“Pro tip, don’t ever get in the way.” Andrea looked up at the person whose desk was to her other side. “I’m Lane.”_

_“Andrea. They do that a lot?”_

_“Every morning. Blake’s phone goes off when they pull in, he and any number of the seniors meet her at the elevator. Watch out, because they do it other times of day too, and on the way out.”_

_“Wow.” She thought a moment. “Who is ‘they’?”_

_“Her security detail.” Andrea thought Lane was going to say more, but one of the seniors rushed back through. “That’s Jay, he’s the policy advisor. I think he’s nice but he’s always rushing so it comes off as rude.” She leaned across the space between their desks. “The curly hair guy, that’s Matt, he’s the speechwriter. He is nice, but if he has his headphones on, don’t even look his direction.”_

_“Okay. I think I saw the assistant yell at him earlier.”_

_Lane’s lips curled. “He probably ate pastries Blake had put aside.” She shook her head. “Never eat anything Blake has marked not to be touched. The little woman is Nadine, that’s who we report to, I’m sure you met her already.”_

_“It was quick. I’ve heard about her though, from other people.” Andrea knew she didn’t want to cross her boss, no matter how many days she stayed on seven. “And the runway model?”_

_Lane blossomed into a full grin. “Daisy, she’s the press wrangler. Don’t ever get on her bad side, never tell anyone you work up here, never answer any question about this job, or you’ll have her to answer to.”_

_Andrea looked up when Lane stopped talking and sat back up, the assistant, Blake, has returned to his desk and was watching them closely with a frown._

_“You’re new.” He stated with no preamble._

_“Started today, my name’s-”_

_“Andrea Walton, I know. This is a very busy department, everyone needs to be focused on their work, not gossiping.”_

_She swallowed and nodded._

_==_

_Her first day had buzzed on quickly to lunch, when the assistant left his desk again and vanished into the corner office, appearing five minutes later, the secretary’s coat over one arm and purse in the other as he guided her toward the elevators. Andrea dared a glance Lane’s way, the other woman only shrugged. “Join me for lunch?”_

_In the canteen, Lane found a table out of the way. “Want some tips?”_

_“Please. I had friends feel bad for me when they heard where I was headed.”_

_She chuckled. “It’s not so bad. I mean, some days are worse than others. You usually have to just gauge how stressed the seniors look. If Blake’s constantly gathering food and tea, keep you head down. If he’s at his desk all day, then the day’s good. He’s just snappy this morning because the secretary worked twenty-six hours straight Friday into Saturday and then snuck back yesterday to do something without telling him.” She swirled some fries in ketchup. “If the secretary is here, Blake is here. He’s also here when she’s not here. Unless they travel, he travels too.”_

_Andrea felt the surprise fill her face. “Wow, twenty-six hours?”_

_“Fifteen or sixteen is normal for the seniors, especially him.” Lane shrugged. “I know you came in early today but try not to be more than forty-five minutes early unless you have a project. It’s not all that quiet in the mornings.”_

_“I noticed.”_

_“Look. We see a lot, and they don’t really see us, but if you keep your head down, it’s an interesting place to work.” She leaned forward. “The seniors are nice though, but the president’s chief of staff barges through and he’s not nice at all.”_

_Lane’s words still crossed her mind as they returned to seven. The desk at the end remained empty for another hour, there was no rush of the seniors racing through and the office carried on at a normal hum. The assistant, Blake, she reminded herself, made an appearance midafternoon, a garment bag over his arm as he talked to someone named Henry quickly on the phone, giving assurances that ‘it’ had been retrieved and he would make sure she was on time this time. There was a pause and then Blake laughed out loud, it surprised her, and she jumped slightly, the sound incongruent with the rest of the atmosphere. When the call ended, he vanished around the corner._

==

Today, it had been all the seniors that had followed the secretary through and Blake had been carrying coffee _and_ a giant bearclaw when he’d headed for the elevator, so she knew they were going to be busy. The assistant didn’t follow the others into the corner office this time though, instead, he dropped the secretary’s bags and coat into his desk chair and began digging through the briefcase. Andrea couldn’t help her brows going up. It wasn’t the weirdest thing she’d ever seen him do, by any means, but it was still outside of normal. He gave a small sound of victory as he pulled a file out and picked up the phone. A year and a half had given her enough experience to know to focus on her computer and block him out, it wasn’t worth getting caught eavesdropping on him.

When the call ended, she noticed he pulled out a carry-on case from under his desk, she hadn’t been aware they were traveling and wondered if it was all of the seniors going. Seven was a much different place to work when they entire senior staff was out of the country.

==

_Andrea stepped off the elevator to find Lane already at her desk, talking to Jim, both wearing grins. “What’s going on?”_

_“The seniors and the secretary all left for Germany this morning. They’re going to be gone three days.” Jim beamed. “It’s as close to casual Fridays as we get around here.”_

_Andrea sat behind her desk; it was the first time they’d travelled since she’d started. “Not business as usual?”_

_“Well, it is, but with more gossip.” Lane sipped her coffee. “I was late last night finishing up a binder for Jay, he was talking to Matt about the trip over in the outer office. I think they forgot I was still here. The whole conference is hush-hush.”_

_“So, what’s the gossip?”_

_“Matt and Daisy are a thing…again. Jay was lecturing him to leave their thing in the states and not drag it to Germany.”_

_“Ah.” She’d seen them around the office, she wasn’t surprised._

_“At least Germany isn’t likely to be a problem trip.” Jim added. “The secretary made a trip back when I first started to Iran, the seniors didn’t go that time. Instead, they holed up in the conference room.” He gestured. “It was weird, to have them here but not here.” He shook his head. “Even before things went south, they didn’t leave and were all freaked out. Then. The secretary went missing and I just-” He broke off. “It was like this end of the world thing; I don’t think I’ve ever seen then that freaked out before or since. For a long while after, even the other seniors ran everything through Blake first and you know how much they just come and go in there.” He said the last be to Lane. “I don’t know what happened, but the secretary yelled at Blake a lot. Like… A Lot.” He emphasized. “She’s no Mister Jackson, but any time she got mad, she would yell at him. Even Jackson stopped coming around as much.”_

_Andrea hadn’t been on seven long, but she’d already witnessed first hand the president’s chief of staff’s rage over anything and everything._

_“I heard she threw something at him.” Lane supplied._

_Jim shook his head. “Not on seven anyway, but who knows what happened away from here. Anyway, even the other seniors were really jumpy and stayed away a lot of the time. Days went by where only Blake went into the corner office.”_

_“And he just took it?” Andrea asked._

_“I wasn’t here once, but Ellen said she even saw him step in when the secretary started to yell at someone else. He’d close himself and her into the office, later he’d come out and his eyes would be red. Some days the husband would turn up a little later and then leave with her.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Every day got worse, some of the newer people started putting in transfer requests, I was almost one of them. Nadine runs a tight ship, but it was hell, constantly worrying when the shouting would start.”_

_“Wow.” Lane responded._

_“Then she had some medical emergency, we were cleared out so she could be taken away, and the seniors all vanished too. After that, things changed. The way they are now? A lot of it started after the secretary came back from whatever that had been.” He sipped his drink._

_“I have a question.” Andrea turned her chair. “What is… Where does Blake fit into everything? Like, my last couple positions there were administrative assistants that handled the schedule and that sort of thing, but…” Her face twisted as she tried to work out how to ask without it being weird. “Isn’t it weird what he does?”_

_Lane and Jim shared a look, considering. “I think he’s more personal assistant?” He answered hesitantly. “Like, he literally started as soon as she was confirmed, even before she got in here. That’s what I heard, anyway, I wasn’t here yet. I know he knows the kids and her husband really well. They talk all the time.”_

_“I always thought he was one of those assistants rich people have that go with them everywhere. I was in the breakroom once and he and the secretary were joking about something at the college she used to work at.” Lane paused. “Some sort of acolyte or concierge even?”_

_“Who knows.” Jim checked his watch and waved before slinking off to his desk._

==

“Blake!” Jay’s voice startled Andrea back into the present. “We couldn’t talk her out of the extension. Sorry man.”

Blake scoffed. “I can’t believe you even tried. I called down to detail, they’re handling the flight changes. It’s a day in and out, really, I suppose, it’s not that big of a deal.” He was reloading folders into the briefcase and then his laptop into his bag. “Did she eat?”

Jay grinned. “Inhaled it.”

Blake checked his watch. “That buzz’ll wear off just after take off then and she’ll sleep on the plane.”

“She sent me out here to ask you to call Henry about the change. She wants the motorcade to stop by for her bags straight to the airport.”

Andrea watched Blake’s eyes widen. “Tell her I said no.”

Jay raised his hands in supplication and backed off with a grin and chuckle. “I’m out of it. I have binders to finish, she’s your problem now.”

Blake made a sound that Andrea thought sounded like a growl as he zipped his bag and strode toward the corner office. The secretary must’ve been coming out, because she could hear their voices from around the corner.

“I am not calling Henry for you; you break dinner plans with him on your own.”

“But he’ll be disappointed.” The secretary groused. “He’ll try to talk me out of it.”

“You mean the thing we all just tried to do?”

The secretary huffed.

“Respectfully, Ma’am, the president is a pompous tool and you’re giving him what he wants.” She heard him sigh. “I will call him, but I’m also telling him we’re leaving early and picking up dinner and a good bottle of wine on the way, your treat for putting my through this.” His voice rose, Andrea suspected the secretary was walking away. “I expect steak!”

One brow arched as Blake returned to his seat and made the call to the secretary’s husband, ending with a discussion about dinner and the new departure times. The other brow joined the first when she heard him snicker before answering. “Yes, I am totally crashing there, if I try to go home, she’ll probably sneak off to Asia without me.”

==

Two days later, Andrea stepped on to seven to see the chief of staff already rushing around, head down in her phone. For Nadine, it was a very odd look, the older woman never walked anywhere with her eyes on her phone. The floor was otherwise deserted, she was almost to her desk with Nadine seemed to startle. “I didn’t know you were here!” Her hand flew to her chest. “It’s Andrea, right?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” She nodded.

Nadine glanced around anxiously. “Can you come to my office please? You might be able to help me with handling something.”

Andrea could only drop her things and follow. She’d never been asked to do such a thing and wasn’t sure what to expect as Nadine shut the office door behind her and waved to the sofa.

“Sit, please.” The phone in her hand buzzed again. “I need to make a request, if you’re uncomfortable with it, you don’t have to do it. I can’t go into details, but I am trying to do damage control, and this isn’t something I can hand off to the other senior staffers.” She met Andrea’s eyes. “Because they are men.”

That caught her attention. “Anything, Ma’am.”

Nadine spelled out the vaguely specific request, the weight of which made Andrea realize this wasn’t normal State Department protocol. She finished up her request. “I can’t give more details; I’m simply trying to help a friend who is helping a friend. Can you do this, quickly?” The phone buzzed again.

“Of course, I’ll get the answers to you right away.” She rushed back to her desk to find the answers Nadine needed.

It was another day before Andrea realized something more might be wrong on the seventh floor. She walked in to find Blake already hunched over his desk, days ahead of when he was meant to return, typing furiously at his computer. Attempting to not make a sound, she got settled only to have his voice make her jump.

“Thank you.” She looked up, his eyes bore into her, begging her to understand. “Nadine said you did excellent work.”

She opened her mouth to ask, working out he must be the friend in some part of the equation, but her voice caught. Instead she simply nodded.

They worked quietly at their own desks for half an hour before Blake suddenly jumped up, Andrea hadn’t even heard his phone ping, but he was muttering under his breath. She knew that meant he hadn’t been expecting his boss to turn up, but she had. He rushed away toward the elevator empty handed, an event that occurred only rarely and she worried over the fact it meant he was thoroughly upset.

The last time she could recall him greeting the secretary with no treat or drink, even the other seniors had avoided him the rest of the day.

==

_“Did she seriously come in?” It was Nadine stopping at Blake’s desk after the odd display earlier. “She’s sick!” She hissed in a whisper._

_Blake’s face was hard. He’d been fine earlier, before his phone had beeped that the secretary was on the way up. Then it had gone off and Andrea would swear he swore under his breath before rushing, empty handed to the elevators. Minutes later, he had walked the usual path, the only person escorting her that morning, begging her to turn around as he followed the usual habit of relieving her of her bags and coat as he spoke._

_Eventually he’d returned, mood clearly taken a turn south, and worked diligently at his desk._

_“I finally told her that at noon I am forcibly removing her.”_

_Nadine smirked. “Good luck.”_

_Despite his clear annoyance, his face shifted. “I texted Henry, he’s arriving at eleven forty-five.”_

_That turned her smirk to a full-blown grin._

==

Today, Blake wasn’t taking her bags or coat as they walked by her desk. He wasn’t touching her at all, a detail that she was nonplussed to realize struck her as odd. The assistant could be surprisingly tactile with his boss when he was concerned, and he was clearly concerned now. But he was hovering, walking just ahead of her instead of his usual beside or behind. Andrea forgot herself and lifted her head, openly watching them pass. The office was still empty aside from the three of them, so she was further surprised when Blake looked back, made eye contact with her, as they rounded the corner.

Somehow, it felt like she’d become some part of a secret.

The day carried on as normal, though the seniors were far more subdued than usual, deferring all interaction with the corner office to Blake, who tried to deflect as much as he could to avoid going in. From her desk, she caught every time he glanced toward the office with a worried look on his face before turning back to his work. It was at lunch that his voice startled her again. “Andrea.” He was watching her expectantly when she turned. “Would you join me for lunch, please?”

She nodded, wondering what he wanted.

He led the way downstairs, stopping briefly to talk to the security agents before heading through the garage to a car. “Is this okay?” He gestured.

“It’s fine.” She climbed in, taking in the interior, clean and tidy, much like his desk. “Where to?”

“The Ethiopian place on the mall?”

She nodded.

“Look, I know this is all weird and I’m sure you’re used to being a fly on the wall, but I really just wanted to express my gratitude for the information you helped Nadine get.” He carried on speaking as they drove. Once they got to the restaurant, she found the courage to ask. “You obviously don’t have to answer, but… Did that information have something to do with your irritation this morning?”

He studied her a moment. “Officially I can not answer that.” He met her eyes.

“Understood.”

“What would make you ask that?”

“I’ve sat in the desk beside you for a year and a half. I’m a people watcher and you are one of the people I get to watch the most.” She quirked a smirk at him, he chuckled.

“That’s a bit creepy.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before. But I know the trip got cut short, that something made you very worried, and that you weren’t expecting the secretary in today. I know you’ve been upset and concerned since she turned up.” She sighed. “Also, you have a very specific habit as you pass through and you did none of that today, which tells me you were afraid to invade her space in your normal manner.”

He sat back, mouth agape. “How do you mean?”

“Normally you’re taking her things, at her side or behind her even. Today you didn’t do any of that, you stayed where she could see you. As a woman, I guess that raises flags.”

“Are your sure you’re not CIA?”

She laughed. “No.” She worked on her food when it arrived before speaking again. “I had no intention of ever voicing things I saw or thought, but since you asked.” She shrugged.


	45. Rest

Blake stood in the middle of the Secretary’s inner office and debated. Russell Jackson was on the phone demanding to be put through, but he just couldn’t. His boss would want to take the call, citing no need to push the president’s Chief of Staff to another heart attack, but… he couldn’t. They’d done two nights without sleep, and by _they_ he meant she and himself, the others had been sent home each night quite forcefully.

As for himself, he’d learned very quickly that on the nights the Secretary dug her heels in on working through the night he knew he his job was to somehow vanish without being noticed to her home and find two changes of clothes, two because once his boss became a bit sleep deprived she also became a bit picky about clothes. His other job, aside from the constant task of trying to force feed her, was to find moments to catch sleep himself. He would nap at his desk, he would find a moment to try and fit onto Nadine’s tiny sofa, more than once in an SUV while the DS agents were escorting her somewhere quickly.

The Secretary generally muddled through on coffee and adrenaline. But once the moment, the crisis, was over, well, then he was left with this. Two nights of no sleep and now he was watching her on her own sofa, curled so that she wasn’t taking up the whole thing and face to the back, wrapped in the warm, oversized sweater he’d stocked her closet with. It had been a surreptitious gift from himself.

No matter how much Russell Jackson yelled, Blake couldn’t bring himself to try and wake her. It would have to wait. Turning on his heel, Blake headed for the door, switching off the lights before slipping out. Russell would still be mad later, of that he was certain, but right now his job was this, to make sure she got sleep. He would stand watch for now.


	46. Truck

Elizabeth dialed the phone on her desk upside down, walking around to her seat as it rang. “Henry? Are you busy?”

“I-I guess not, what’s up?”

“Can you look into something for me?” She sighed heavily. “Blake didn’t turn up today. Nadine says he said he’d be late in, but… I’m worried.”

“Yeah, I’ll see what’s up. I-I’ll make a call and head over to his place now. You think this is about the truck of girls?”

“The whole staff’s off, I think everyone’s having a hard time with it. And I get it, I do. But everyone else is here. Together. And he’s alone. I’m worried about him.”

“Okay, I’ll find him.”

“Thank you.”

Henry hung up and grabbed his keys, heading straight for Blake’s apartment, mentally berating the traffic that slowed his drive. Jogging up the steps, he knocked on the door; Blake opened in, clearly surprised to see him. “Can I come in?”

“Uhh, yeah.” Blake let him in before retreating to the kitchen. “I didn’t expect she’d call you.”

“She was worried. I’m worried.” Henry took in the way Blake was dressed, almost ready for work but no tie or jacket. “I’m here to listen.”

At first, Blake just shook his head, but then he thought about it and sat down. “We were so close. We could have stopped the traffickers and saved the girls, all of them, but we let all this happen. What’s the point of trying to do that job if we can’t actually help anyone?” His voice rose. “We talk this good game, but nothing really changes. We could have stopped them! She could have brought them to justice!” He cut off, realizing what he’d said.

Henry just nodded. “I see.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I get it.”

Blake huffed. “A couple years ago… Nadine said something to me, and, at the time, I thought she was just projecting because of her relationship with her son, but…” He trailed off.

“What did she say?” Henry finally prompted.

“She said eventually parents will disappoint their children. She said she knew I held Elizabeth on a pedestal in my mind and I thought she was crazy but she said one day a call will be made and I will have a hard time reconciling it… I guess she was right after all.” He dared bring his eyes up to meet Henry’s. “I got up at my normal time this morning and did all my normal routine but then… I couldn’t go in. I guess I wasn’t ready to face feeling so…let down. I love my job.” He exhaled. “How many people get to say they’re saving the world, you know? But what good is saving the world if we can’t save innocent people.”

Henry thought about all of it, he understood that feeling of betrayal by the organization you worked for. “I’ve been involved in projects and have seen calls made that left me feeling disillusioned, I know Elizabeth has lots of times. Even the calls she was forced to make herself; you know how hard she can take things. I think to an extent it comes with the job, unfortunately. The best thing, though, is to get back into the fray and try again.” He studied Blake a minute before sighing. “Well, I need to call Elizabeth and let her know you’re fine. Do you want me to tell her you need the day? She said everyone seemed pretty upset about the girls, but they’re together at the office. She was worried you were suffering alone.”

“No, I’ll go in.”

“Are you sure? Because I can take the day too and we can go find something distracting to do.”

“You’re right. I need to jump back in and see what kind of day today will be. Maybe we could do something over the weekend?”

“Yeah, sure.” Henry pulled his phone out and dialed his wife’s office. “Hey, I have Blake… He’ll be in later… Yeah…” He smiled. “I’ll ask…”

Blake looked up, questioning.

“She asked if you wanted to spend the weekend at our place.”

“I- I’ll have to think about it.”

Henry repeated it over the phone, wrapping up the call before tucking his phone away. “I think it’d be good for everyone. We could ask Alison to come home, Stevie might be around. Nothing like dysfunctional family time to lift the spirits.”

Blake found himself smiling slightly at that. “Maybe. We’ll see.”

“Sure.”


	47. Announcement

Elizabeth dropped her suitcase by the dresser and turned, leaning against the chest of drawers, not willing to even attempt to tamp down the soft smile on her face. She watched Henry pulled off his glasses, surprise coloring his gaze.

“What happened to have you smiling like that? There’s no way drone strikes and biological attacks have you that happy.”

She laughed, tipping her head back to shake her hair out of her face. “No, they wouldn’t, you’re right.” She glanced out into the hallway before pushing off and crossing to the bed, sitting by his knees. “We dropped Blake home on the way. From what I’d surmised, there were some former coworkers in Rome from his finance days, I overheard Matt mentioning something about running into one of them I guess.” She drew in a breath and let it out. “When we dropped him off, he just… He told me something, very personal. He’s… you should have seen him, Henry, he looked so young, so hopeful to have my…approval. No, not even approval. He just wanted to be…loved…as he is.”

He put his book aside and sat forward. “Wow.”

“It was like he’d been holding it in, desperately waiting to let it out and then…” She shrugged. “He said it was because he couldn’t have a real relationship without being honest. I think his whole speech surprised him as much as me.” When he tugged her arm, she let herself be pulled into his embrace. “I know he keeps everyone at arm’s length, he’s always been like that, you know?”

“I know. But he’s opened up to us a lot over the years.” He rubbed her arm. “I’ll text him tomorrow and invite him over.” When she craned her neck to give him a questioning look, he elaborated. “Otherwise he’ll just obsess all weekend that he’s made a mistake in saying anything and by Monday he’ll have worked himself up so much he won’t be any use at the office.”

She pushed back to a seated position, considering. “You’re right.”

“I know I am.” He grinned when she rolled her eyes. “I think he just needs to know this doesn’t change anything about his place in our family.”

“He did mention he’s had negative reactions from people on all sides before. And he was right in guessing I wouldn’t care, or rather, I won’t suddenly think badly of him for it. I do care. I want him to be happy and not feel like he’s got to hide some of himself all the time.”

“Then we’ll make sure nothing changes. Now, it’s been a long week, let’s say we get some sleep.”

“Yes. Lots of sleep.” She stood and headed for the bathroom, turning back to him. “Or not sleep.” She smirked.


	48. Airport

“Why are airports so big?” Elizabeth mumbled, frustrated with the amount of walking they’d been doing. She couldn’t even people-watch properly, Matt walked in front of her and Frank to her side, both agents so much bigger that they blocked her view. Of course, she understood that the whole idea was they blocked others’ view of her, but it made her feel a bit boxed in. Looking to her right, she intended on sharing a moment of that frustration with Blake only to find him looking distracted, a small smile playing at his lips. Craning her neck, Elizabeth tried to work out what had his attention and found a group of flight attendants walking ahead of them. It didn’t take too many seconds to work out exactly which one he was watching.

She didn’t comment, a grin of her own creeping across her face. It still sucked feeling caged in, but watching Blake was a good distraction. When the flight attendants stopped at a restaurant along the concourse, she tapped Matt’s arm. “Let’s get a bite?”

“Ma’am.” He started to object as he turned to face her.

“We’ll just grab and go, okay?” She headed off toward the line, leaving him to trail behind still trying to dissuade the stop. She was delighted to see they were directly behind the group in line and as, luck had it, one of them seemed to recognize her. Recognition made the detail nervous, she either had major fans or major opposers, rarely anyone in the middle; both groups could be unpredictable in their reactions. Glancing at Blake, she allowed the light conversation with the flight attendants as the line moved. They were nice enough and she couldn’t help noticing the way Blake kept glancing at the man standing beside him. Deciding to bridge the gap and help him out, she laughed. “I’m sorry, this is my assistant, Blake Moran, he’s a New Jersey native as well.” She segued off the last comment one of the women had made. “He probably logs almost as many miles as some of you.”

It seemed to work, the attendants, including the man to his side, all shifted their attention to Blake, who finally started talking.

Once they had their food, Elizabeth allowed Frank and Matt to start to shuffle her back toward their exit, only turning back long enough to approach the man who was currently on his own getting napkins. “Here’s my card, if you’re ever have an interest in working on one of the crews that does diplomatic flights, I can put you in touch.”

“Thanks.” He nodded, taking the card. “Wait. This is your assistant’s card?”

She started to walk away, smiling. “All my calls go through him.”

Back in her spot in the middle of the agents, she couldn’t help grinning, it grew each time she felt Blake glance her way. Finally, she caved. “You were staring at his butt.”

“I- Ma’am?”

She beamed up at him. “Earlier, you were staring. Thought you needed a nudge.”

He gaped a moment. “I- I don’t know how to respond to that.”

“He seemed nice.” She settled on a smirk. “I gave him your card.”

“What?” His voice jumped an octave.

“Come on, when was the last time you took the time to go on a date?”

He simply stared at her.

“I think he’ll call, and if he doesn’t…” She drew in a breath. “I doubt he’s that hard to track down.”

“Please don’t.”

She tugged his sleeve, leaning in conspiratorially. “You were attracted to him.”

“Stop.”

“I just want to see you happy.”

“I would be happy if this conversation would end.”

“Don’t you ever dream, Blake? Getting married? Having a family of your own?”

“Suddenly I dream about a boss who is horrified at the idea of gay marriage.” He grumbled without any heat to it.

“I just worry.” She huffed. “I worry about all my kids.” She knew the comment would calm him down, it always did when she included him as one of her kids.

“And do any of your kids like you meddling in their love lives?”

“Well… No.”

He grinned. “If he calls, I will talk to him. But if he doesn’t, you don’t go looking. Agreed?”

She frowned but nodded. “Agreed.”


	49. Switch

Elizabeth woke to the knock on her hotel room door. Grabbing a robe, she pulled it open, knowing it could only be an extremely limited number of people. “Yeah, Keith?” She squinted against the bright light.

“I’m sorry to wake you, Ma’am, but I think you might be just the person to help with a small situation downstairs.”

“Situation?” She saw him nod. “Hold on, let me find clothes. How dressed do I need to be?” She turned back in time to catch him blanche. “No, I um, is it a dignitary?”

“No, Ma’am. Nothing official.”

She rushed to put on something presentable, using her fingers to comb her hair more or less into place as they rode the elevator to the lobby. She was about to ask what was going on when the doors opened, and she heard it. Piano music. “Who’s playing at one in the morning?” She looked between her two detail agents. The lobby was otherwise empty, and the music was soft, but she’d not seen the piano used at any point so far in their six day stay.

“That’s why we asked you down.” Keith ushered her closer.

As they came around the end of the grand piano, she realized it was Blake playing, several empty and one full glass on a tray on the top. “Blake.” She sighed.

“The concierge called up; he’s been down here a few hours. He’s not bothering anyone, and they aren’t minding the music, they just wanted to know if we knew he was down here, given his state.”

“A few hours?” It made her fingers hurt to think about playing that long. “Okay, I’ll talk to him.” Crossing the room, she simply stood at his side and watched him for a while. She knew he was a talented musician and singer; he’d used those skills for diplomatic purposes in the past. When one song transitioned into another, she sat beside him. “Blake.” She whispered. “What’s going on?”

To be honest, she’d been worried since they’d landed in Switzerland. On the flight over, he’d been his normal, slightly obsessive, self, but shortly after they’d arrived, he’d gone quiet. As the days had dragged on, he’d also faltered staying in step with her and eventually vanished entirely.

He kept playing, two more songs before the notes softened, his fingers barely pressing the keys. Placing her hand on his back, she rubbed slightly. “Blake. Come on, it’s me.” He carried on playing softly.

“The music can’t stop.” He finally whispered.

“Why can’t it stop?” She ducked her head to try and see his face, catching the red eyes and tear tracks. “What happens of it stops?”

“If the music stops then…” His voice caught, then dropped impossibly softer. “Then she’s dead.” The notes carried on, a tune unknown.

“Who?” Elizabeth wracked her brain, then remembered… He’d shared once, on a trip back from Italy, it’d been just the two of them on the plane. His mother had been his first music teacher. “Your mom?”

The notes stopped and for a moment, the entire lobby was silent, his hands remained frozen, hovering over the keys before falling into his lap. “I can’t believe how much it hurts. We hadn’t really talked in a while…” His voice caught again, this time he only shook his head. “I thought I had plenty of time to fix it.”

“Oh, Sweetie.” Elizabeth wrapped an arm around his back in a partial hug, surprised when he turned and made it a complete, grounding hug. “When did you find out?”

“Just before we landed.” He pulled back. “The rest of my family, what I have of one, wasn’t speaking to me…”

“You found out almost a week ago and didn’t say anything?” She searched his face. “Why?”

“You need me here.”

“Blake… When’s the funeral?” When he checked his watch, her heart sank. “A few hours ago.”

“Oh, Blake. Why didn’t you go back?”

“I couldn’t.”

“I would have had you on a plane right back to DC. I wouldn’t have even hesitated.”

“I know. I thought I could just push through but then this hotel had this damned piano… My cousin texted me and let me know that they weren’t going to wait, they didn’t feel compelled to wait for me to finish work. I found out this morning that they’d planned it knowing I wouldn’t make it back.”

Words were something she was good at, but now, they failed her.

“I won’t force you back then. How about you come upstairs now?”

Tear filled eyes met hers and she knew what his answer would be. “I think I would rather stay here and play.”

“Okay. Do you want me to stay here with you?”

“For a song or two?”

“Sure.” She stayed beside him through two before she rose, moving quietly to the desk to request that her detail be notified if any problems arose.

==

Her staff was piled into the main room off her hotel room, picking over the breakfast Jay and Nadine had arranged. “Where’s Blake?” Nadine finally looked around as everyone found a seat.

“He won’t be joining us today. Something came up that needed his attention, so we’ll all just have to muddle through.” Elizabeth got them down to business. Once they were done and everyone was heading off to their tasks, she realized Nadine was hovering. “Yes, Nadine?”

“Is Blake okay? I know he’s been off his game since we’ve been here and I just… I’ve been worried.”

“He’s dealing with a private matter and yesterday and last night it was hard for him.” She topped up her coffee. “He’ll be off until we return to DC.”

“That’s another two days.”

“I know. Believe me, he’d rather be working.”

==

When they all boarded the plane two days later, Elizabeth had shut herself into the stateroom. Generally, she didn’t use it, she was used to working with the others coming and going. Sometimes Nadine or Jay would hole up for a while in there and they all used it for phone calls. She called Blake in once they had reached cruising altitude and watched him take a seat. “How are you holding up?”

“I’ll be okay.”

“Blake.”

“I was barely in high school when I told my family about…me. They talked a good game, I really thought they’d be supportive. Aside from my parents, I was wrong. So as soon as I could, I cut and ran. After that I just…”

“Never told anyone.”

“No.”

She thought back to the night, it felt like years ago now, when he stood outside her motorcade. “And then you told me.”

“And then I wondered how I got the wrong family.” He exhaled heavily. “I’m sorry.”

“No, Blake. You’ve been like a son to me for years. I’m proud to call you that. I’m proud of the man you are. But right now? You’re still the hurt boy whose mom just died, and you were denied mourning.”

“Everything feels so jumbled and a mess.”

“I’m sure that’s terrifying for you.” She stood and moved to sitting beside him on the couch. “It doesn’t have to make sense. It doesn’t have to fit in a neat box. It doesn’t matter that you hurt before, that doesn’t take away from your hurting now.”

“I’m trying to untangle it in my mind. I want to go to her gravesite.”

“Of course, you do. You don’t have to go alone. We are there for you as much or as little as you want.”


	50. No Water

Blake sat with the rest of the staff eating lunch. He’d placed an order to go as well to haul back upstairs and was waiting for it to be dropped at the table when his phone rang. “Huh.” He pulled it out, looking up at them. “It’s Matt.”

“Wait, detail Matt?” Daisy leaned in to see.

“He never calls, just texts. He’s upstairs with MSec in that meeting still.” He connected the line. “Yes, Matt.”

“Are you still in the building?”

“Ha, as if I would leave.”

“You need to get to that conference room immediately. You have the information?”

Blake was already on his feet, grabbing his suit jacket. “Of course.” To his friends he added. “Something’s wrong, bring the food up?” He made a dash for the elevators. “I’m on my way, is she okay?”

“Physically.” Matt cut the line, leaving Blake to frantically book it through the building.

He skidded to a stop in the final hallway just as a stretched bearing a sheet-covered body rolled by. “What the hell happened?” He called out as Matt appeared in the doorway with their boss. “I took _one_ lunch.” As the trio closed in on where he was standing, he swapped positions with the other agent, walking in step with her as they were shepherded back to the suite.

“We didn’t even get to talk. He took a drink of the water on the table and then just stopped. He died. His face was bleeding, I guess from the fall.” She grabbed his sleeve. “I was about to pour a drink myself.” She gasped. “It could have been me.”

“It was likely just a freak event, let’s get back to the room to calm down.” He dropped one hand to her back and urged her into the room.

The staff arrived back to the room twenty minutes later, by that point, she’d at least stop shaking, Blake counted that as a win. Nadine had casually carried several foam containers through to the kitchenette, casually tapping on two from behind the Secretary’s back so Blake knew which had the right food in it. Jay and Daisy had dived right into the work of things, leaving him to get to step back into the care role. As he poured the tea, he wondered how he’d ended up reduced to an occasional waiter. He’d mean what he’d said a few months prior, his job was to stay at least five steps ahead of one of the most powerful diplomats, possibly one of the most powerful women, in the world. It was a big job that required an endless amount of mental, and physical, work. But he wondered if there wasn’t another option.

As he set the tea down, he caught her slightly slow response to Jay and wondered how none of them, after this many years, caught the minutia that he did. “Ma’am, a gentle reminder that you missed breakfast, so you haven’t eaten.” Her brush off told him it was going to be another exceptionally long day. Accepting that in an hour he could physically force break and a meal, that was within him power at least, he stepped back and simply did his job of watching for signs of stress, more concerned that there didn’t seem to be any. A man had dropped dead in front of her after all. But she was headed full force into getting to the bottom of things until he had to point out the blood on her sleeve.

When she vanished into the next room to change, Jay slapped him on the back. “Rough day, Man.”

“It’s very vexing.”

“Maybe we could clear her schedule a bit.”

“What do you have in mind?” At this point, he’d take anything.

“Well.” Nadine rose. “Isn’t Alison moving into college tomorrow?”

“Oh, she’s been beating herself up for not being able to be there.” It clicked. “I’ll talk to detail.” He walked backward on his way out. “Fifty dollars to anyone who can get her to eat at least a banana before she leaves this room.” He pointed at each of them. “So not kidding.”

==

Blake was trying to exude relaxed calm in the lobby waiting for the motorcade to return. When it finally pulled up, he rushed to the door as she came through.

“Look, Blake, I ate food. I even have a doctor who can certify that.” She chuckled at herself.

“I’m certain a hotdog from a street cart doesn’t count as real food, Ma’am.”

She stopped and turned to face him. “How do you know that?” When he didn’t move to answer, she turned her gaze to Matt who had followed them through the door. “You rat me out to him?”

“I wouldn’t call it ratting you out, Ma’am.”

“What would you call it then?”

“Interjurisdictional cooperation working toward a common goal.” He swallowed. “Ma’am.”

“Oh my god!” She laughed. “I’m going upstairs. Now you guys are just ganging up on me.”

==

He decided the break to go see Ali had been a great one. Hovering in the hall and then at the edge of the cafeteria as he scrolled on his phone, he surreptitiously kept an eye on the room. When an alert popped up from Daisy about social media, he made his move to clear out. Checking his watch, he decided it was late enough he could blame the schedule, which was a shame, because it was the biggest meal she’d eaten in two days. Interrupting their conversation, he worked to extract her from the café, giving Henry a nod as they went.

“Good luck.” Henry called out, his wife simply waving in reply. Blake turned back, a crowd was starting to gather, but through them he could see Henry had meant the comment for him.

“This way.” She’d hesitated and Blake had to grab her before she got the idea of trying to defend herself. Once they were in the motorcade, he was able to relax. “It was good to see Alison off the school though.”

“Yes, it was. And now I have to go right back to real life and deal with Marty the Interrupter.”

He chuckled. “Nadine will be in the makeup room to go over any updated information with you, the others are going to watch from the sidelines for the interview. After this one, the others are all easy.”

“If they were so easy, why can’t I get you to do them?”

He hesitated, trying to gauge how serious she was. “Please never do that to me.”

She patted his knee. “It’s okay, Blake. No worries.”

He did worry though, with every new text from Daisy clear up to the studio. Once he got there, he busied himself with the little jobs that made everything go off without a hitch.

And it almost did, right up until Marty pushed a button too far. Well, he couldn’t say his job was ever boring.

==

Blake wasn’t sure where to start with his emotions. Utter horror over Russell’s performance when he stormed their private castle, so to speak, that was a major contender. Politics naturally made things run hot at times and Russell Jackson seemed to pleasure in dismissive treatment of lesser mortals. Blake had been about to step in and shift some of the rage to himself, he knew his boss was already bearing enough of the weight of the past few days and, frankly, he didn’t see how any of it was actually her weight to bear. Nadine jumping in and knocking Russell down a peg, that had brought shock into the equation. She’d plowed him over about his own behavior of the whole thing,

Edging into the room after Russell stormed off, Blake listened to Nadine share Jay’s latest intel and then moved out of the way as their boss vanished to her room. Once it was just the two of them, he turned back to Nadine. “Had enough?”

“Of Russell Jackson? Yes. Of scotch? Not even close.”

As she vanished toward the bedrooms as well, he wondered how fast a courier could deliver from a liquor store.

==

It was late, but Blake didn’t care. Everyone had quietly ducked into their rooms earlier, but he couldn’t find sleep. The notion that his boss could be murdered that easily made him feel on high alert. When Jay had dropped that bombshell earlier in the day, her only response had been to go make a call, but her brother had still been in the room with them when she vanished.

_“You really think she’s in that much danger?”_ Will had asked Jay.

_“She’s pursuing this. They don’t want exposed. Yeah, I think it’s a very real likelihood.”_ Jay had honestly answered.

_“What about her bodyguards?”_ Will had waved toward the door to the suite, where the DS agents were posted outside.

_“They’re physical protection only.”_ Nadine had joined the conversation. “ _The vice minister was poisoned with a pitcher of water.”_

_“So, you privately source everything she eats and drinks.”_ He’d caught Nadine turn and look at Blake. “ _This is my sister, guys! You have no plan for this kind of thing?”_

Reluctantly, Blake had finally stepped in. “ _The honest answer is… it depends. Generally, no, there is no policy or plan for that, but I often am the uh…”_

Mat had jumped in then, trying to help. “ _It’s Blake’s job to even get her to eat, which means almost all food is stuff he picks up anyway. And that’s without this risk hanging over us.”_

_“Okay.”_ Will had finally nodded, accepting that as an answer.

Pouring a healthy glass of scotch, Blake stared at the baby grand in the corner. A definite perk of diplomatic travel was often staying in some very luxurious places. Carefully, he worked on his drink as he slid closed pocket doors, cutting off the main room from the halls leading to the bedrooms. A second glass, plus the bottle, and he slid onto the bench. The feel of the slick seat, plus the cool touch of the keys relaxed him. At first, he simply pretended to play, but then one finger pressed a bit too hard, filling the silence with a single tone.

When no one came out to investigate, he pressed another. And then another. Soon, he was pouring his heart into playing, only stopping once to refill his glass again. Once the liquor was gone and the overwhelming need to play was gone, he looked up, startled to see Nadine watching him. “I didn’t know you came in.”

“I had to watch you play. Listening wasn’t cutting it.” She shrugged one shoulder. “Have any more in you?”

“What’s the time?”

“Not quite midnight.”

“I could do another.” He began again, softly when she stood and moved closer.

“Vincent was such a shock. And even after, I never had that horrified sinking feeling of someone else’s mortality. Surprisingly, it didn’t pop up during Iran either. But today… When Jay had to voice that a sudden and fast death was a real chance… A part of me wanted to chase Russell Jackson down and just shake him until he understood that.”

“I keep hearing his words in my head.” He admitted.

“Me too.”

He nodded. “Then you guys were trying to calm Will. I guess I never considered that role in my job, I always looked at it like trying to feed a small, unwilling, child.”

She barked a laugh despite the late hour. “I get that.” They both lapsed into silence as he carried on playing. When he finished, she collected both their glasses, leaving the bottle for him to tuck away. “Good night, Blake.”

“Night.” He turned down the lights and headed down the back hall to his room, pausing at a partly open door on the way. Inside, his boss slept, buried almost to invisibility in the covers and pillows. Finally he shuffled the rest of the way to his own room as he mentally renewed his promise.


	51. Bite

“Ma’am, please. We can squeeze in thirty minutes.” Blake had been at this for an hour, but then at this point he knew to start early because of well…this.

“I’m not hungry, Blake.”

“Ma’am. It’s after lunch and I’m not entirely sure coffee and a bite of a glazed donut counted as breakfast.” He’d been following her quickly and closely, so when she stopped and turned suddenly at his words, he nearly crashed into her.

“I fully recall that donut got eaten.”

“Ma’am, it was my donut you stole a bite of, I am the one who finished it.”

“Oh.” He could see her try and think as they resumed walking. “Well, I had breakfast this morning with Henry and the kids.”

“I received a text from Henry after you left that you left a plate of eggs and bacon on the counter without so much as a bite from it.” This time when she stopped and turned, he was prepared.

“You and him, how often does this happen?” She squinted up at him.

“Ma’am, with all due respect, I get the impression at times that I speak to him more frequently than you do.”

“And you all handle me.”

“Ma’am, it comes from a place of love.” He paused. “His love, Ma’am.”

A teasing smile spread across her face. “You love me, Blake, you know you do.”

“Perhaps we could debate that over lunch.” He segued.

She huffed. “Call detail, pick a place. If you’re going to force me to eat, I want something good.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” It was all he could do not to start celebrating right there.

“Find something greasy.”

“I’ll do my best.” He turned to return to his desk.

“Nothing with only healthy food!” Her voice carried down the hall after him.

Blake sighed and picked up the phone to get ahold of her detail.

==

Blake frowned at the menu. Aside from perhaps the tomato on the sandwiches, he couldn’t see a single thing that wasn’t greasy or cheesy. Just his boss’s kind of place. “Ma’am, your next meeting got bumped, so we aren’t in a rush today.” It had gotten bumped because he’d called and bumped it.

“Oh goodie.” Her eyes lit up.

At least in the office he could call in for healthy options, though she had a tendency to wander to the staff breakroom and find pastries; and in meetings over meals, social protocols pressed her into not only eating, but choosing light and healthy, but out like this, just the two of them, well then, Blake had accepted long ago that some meals just weren’t worth the battle. And that was how he ended up watching her eat a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a banana milkshake.

_“Aren’t you worried about eating all that… Ma’am?”_ He’d asked the first time they’d eat out together. She’d smirked at him and given a teasing response.

“I’m starving.” Was her only comment today as she dug in. He raised a brow, which she determinedly ignored.

“We should make this a regular thing, you and me. Sneak off and find some normal place to eat lunch. Maybe once a week if it fits.” Her words took him by surprise.

“Sure. And will it be this much of a fight to get you out the door and eating each week or are we done with that now?”

She pointed a fry at him but didn’t verbally respond.

“I am sorry, Ma’am, but you are harder to feed than a three-year-old.” That made her smile.

“Jay have you help with Chloe again?”

He sighed heavily, perhaps slightly dramatically. “And as much as I’m uncomfortable looking after Jay’s delightful daughter, it is still endlessly easier to feed her three meals and two snacks a day, proper meals for her size, mind you, and to get her to eat things that are healthy for her and will not drive her to serious health problems.” He frowned at the burger she was eating.

She only laughed though. “Henry reminds me at every meal.”

He nodded, opting to put more food in his face before he stuck his foot in there again.

“Okay.”

He was confused. “Okay? Okay, what?”

“I will accept that you have my best interests at heart and that includes eating and drinking when you take the energy to remind me to do so.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

“Wow, made Blake Moran speechless, who would have thought a little cooperation could make that happen.” She teased.

He felt himself smile, but anything he might have said in reply was lost as she spoke again.

“And exactly what does ‘proper meals for size’ mean?”

“Um.” He really wished that the earth would go ahead and swallow him up. “Nothing, Ma’am.” When she didn’t continue interrogating him, he finally looked up and met her gaze. He held it a moment before sagging back in his seat. “When I took this job, I promised you that I would look out for every aspect of your needs, professionally of course, but also personally as needed. You are constantly on the go, sometimes pulling sixteen-hour days or more and the last thing we need, you need, is to not be at your best at the wrong moment.”

“And that’s why you push so hard.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Well, I thank you for that.”

He only response was a nod, but he knew that either way, he wouldn’t have stopped. It was the job after all.


	52. Full Force

Blake scrabbled for his phone when it rang. "Yes?"

"Mister Moran, it's Tim Aberdine."

He had to stop and think a second. "Oh! Tim! Please, Blake. What can I do for you?"

"She doesn't do what I say!"

Blake coughed out a laugh. "Yeah. That happens."

"How do I keep her safe?"

"Remind her POTUS has authorized full physical removal if it comes to it."

"As in…"

"As in, if it comes to it, you throw her over your shoulder and haul her to safety."

Blake could almost hear Tim thinking on that one. "You serious?"

"She's, what? One thirty? I'm guessing you wouldn't even break a sweat."

"Anything else helpful that's a little less… drastic?"

Blake debated a second, but decided to give up one trick in his arsenal. "Lemon muffins."

"Excuse me?"

"Look, you're the security professional. You work it out. Good luck."


	53. Collide

Henry pressed a kiss to the top of Elizabeth’s head. They were on a bench in the hall of a hospital, he was turned to the side so she could sit between his legs, wrapped in his arms. “It’s going to be okay.”

“It’s my fault.”

He hugged her tight. “No. It’s not, Babe.”

“He shouldn’t have been in the car.” He heard the pain in her voice. “It was totally selfish to ask him to come meet me; I knew he’d never say no. Now he’s in the hospital because I didn’t want to spend the afternoon on my own.”

“Hey. You couldn’t have predicted this.”

_This_ had been a large truck missing a light and plowing into the path of the SUV, thankfully at a low enough speed to not cause instant death. Elizabeth had been standing outside the hotel and watched it happen, rushing to the scene as her detail tried to stop her. It would forever be imprinted in her mind the sight of Blake limply propped, only held upright by the belt. His body loose and limp in a way he never would have allowed normally.

“I keep seeing him.” A tear broke free. “What if that had been the last time I ever saw him?”

“Here.” Henry pulled out his own phone. “Think of him like this, do you remember?” The pictures were from a trip the family had taken last summer to the beach. Blake had ended up dragged into the surf, still dressed, by the kids, which had sent Elizabeth into peals of laughter. “You were laughing so hard you couldn’t breathe.” He smiled.

“He almost didn’t come with us. Said he didn’t want to intrude on a family vacation.”

“Yeah, it took all of us to convince him he should come.”

“He is part of our family.” She agreed, thumbing the pictures. As she swiped through them, pictures of the kids mostly, and her reading or doing something else, distracted, she stopped on one. “When was this?”

Henry thought back. “After the Togo state dinner. It’d been a long day.”

“It had.” She studied the picture. “Why’d you take it?” She remembered now which couch it was, tucked away in the White House. She’d been exhausted, clearly. Blake was seated in the corner of an antique style sofa, feet up on a table and his head tossed back in what looked like it had to have been an uncomfortable position. Her shoes were kicked off, feet curled under her. She was asleep too, her head on his shoulder as his arm wrapped around her.

“I don’t know. You looked peaceful. All the other pictures I have of you, you’re so busy.”

She passed him the phone back. “He takes his job looking after me seriously.”

“It’s more than that, Babe.” She twisted to give him a curious look. “Do you remember after Iran? Right after?” He felt her nod. “Blake spent the night after he brought you home.”

“I remember that, sort of. He met me at the hospital.”

“No.” He pressed another kiss into her hair. “He met you on the plane, he carried you to the ambulance when you passed out.”

“How do you know that?”

“He told me. We talked constantly in those days and weeks after.” He drew a breath. “He was taking it hard. You’d essentially told he and I that you’d accepted you might die, and then you nearly did. When you came home, you had nightmares, even with the meds you were on. Part of the next day I- I didn’t know what else to do. I wanted to just stare at you forever so you couldn’t vanish and when I looked at him, I could see the same thing in his eyes.” He paused a second before carrying on. “Part of the following day, we simply sat on the bed on either side of you. You calmed, there between us, and everything was still.”

“I didn’t know.”

“I know. But I sat there, and I just took us all in. He was at your back, just…there. I started to worry that the two of you were forming some emotional bond that would come between us. He and I did talk, before and then later. I am glad he’s part of our family.”

“I… I don’t know what to say.” She pushed up, turning so she could see his face. “Why are you telling me now?”

“I- I guess I wanted you to know that you don’t have to be afraid to tell me you care for him. You asked him to come because you enjoy having him with you. He went because he wanted to. This isn’t your fault.”

When he tugged, she settled back into him. “He’s not a replacement for you.”

“I know.” The doctor appeared in the hall.

“For Blake Moran?”

“Yes.” Henry helped Elizabeth stand and then he stood beside her.

“Mister Moran will be okay. I was told he was in a reinforced vehicle?” The doctor looked up for a nod. “Good thing, because while he’ll be in pain for some time, he’ll recover. The worst injuries are severe whiplash and a concussion related to the sharp jar of the impact. And then he has some bruising from the seat belt. All in all, after physical therapy and monitoring, he’ll bounce back in time.”

“Thank you.” Henry responded.

“Can we see him?”

The doctor gave a soft attempt at a smile and nodded. “This way.”

==

He looked asleep in the bed, but when she gasped at the sight of him, his eyes fluttered open. “Ma’am.” He attempted a smile.

“Oh, Blake.” The tears started full force finally. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She rushed to the bedside and took his hand. “I was so worried.”

“I’ll be good as new in no time.” He winced when he tried to shift positions. “How bad is it?”

“It’ll start hitting you tomorrow.” Henry pulled a chair up and sat. “Whiplash, bruises, things that will hurt for a while.”

“That explains it. Even my heartbeat is making by chest hurt.”

“As things subside, I’m sure they’ll want more x-rays to check disks in your spine. That and the concussion will take a while to heal. All in all, the SUV did its job, the next few months will be painful, but you’ll live.”

Elizabeth carded his hair. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Sweetie.” Blake could see how wet her eyes were and glanced at Henry.

“Babe.” Henry broke her focus. “Why don’t you go update the others? I’ll stay right here with him.”

She nodded and sniffled wetly. “Yeah. I’ll be right back.” She gave his hand a squeeze before stepping out.

Henry sighed. “She’s officially in mom-mode, it’s best to not fight it, just ride it out.”

“I understand.” He swallowed hard. “It’s nice actually. Waking up in a hospital all alone isn’t all that fun.”

He frowned. “I can imagine.” He waited, he knew if he stayed quiet, eventually Blake would open up.

“I broke my leg in high school. I’d been out with friends and fell off something. My parents weren’t thrilled with the people I was with for… a few reasons, and so they never came to check on me. Later, my mother said she would’ve, but my father didn’t want her to, he wanted me to learn my lesson about my choices.”

“I’m sorry.”

Blake attempted to shift in the bed to find a more comfortable position. “I think it was the first clue that I was going to have to hack it on my own. I couldn’t change the things they hated, and they weren’t really willing to stop hating it.”

“It wasn’t fair of them to ask you to ignore such a fundamental fact about yourself.” Blake looked up and saw understanding in Henry’s eyes. “When the kids were all small, I used to worry, because of how I was raised, about how I would react if one of my kids came to me and told me a fundamental truth about themselves.”

He wondered when Elizabeth had told him. “Well, I think you did okay.” He was interrupted from having to say more by her reentering the room. “Everyone up to speed?”

“I only spoke to Nadine; she’s going to pass it along. She said to tell you if you wanted time off, you only had to ask.” She teased, taking a seat on his bed. “How are you really feeling, Blake?”

“Tired.” He answered honestly. “But I don’t want you guys to leave.”

“We’ll stay, I promise.” Henry assured him. “Hopefully, they’ll be done looking over you soon.”

==

Blake hadn’t even realized he’d drifted off until he startled awake to find only Henry at his bedside. He grunted when a wave of pain washed over him, making the older man look up from his phone.

Henry waited for the pain to ease. “Liz had to step out. She didn’t want to, but duty called. Thankfully, I do not have her job and I get to stay right here.” He smiled. “So, the doctor says you get to go home in a few hours. I have to give you a heads up, that will mean our home.”

He huffed and started to object but Henry put a hand up to stop him.

“Trust me, she’s set on that. She wants to mother you, accept it.”

“Okay.” He looked around the room. “I swore I heard her.” He glanced back at Henry. “After the crash.”

“It was almost in front of the hotel, she was outside waiting on you and saw it happen. Keith had to chase after her. You probably did hear her.”

He considered that a minute. “I thought I was just losing it, dying. Like one of those life flashing before your eyes things, but only sound.”

“I wanted to let you know, I know we never discussed it, but while we were waiting to hear how you were doing, I told her about after Iran. She was carrying the weight of you getting hurt and I just wanted her to understand that I wasn’t upset that she was so upset I guess.”

Blake blinked. “I- I guess I figured you told her years ago.”

==

Blake screwed his eyes shut as the SUV carried them toward Georgetown. Henry was in the very back row and Elizabeth was beside him, a bag they’d packed already from his apartment in her lap. Every muscle in his body hurt, especially in his head and neck, even thinking of having to turn his head was excruciating.

“A few more miles and it’ll be over.” Elizabeth’s voice was soft, compassionate. “Hang in there.”

He tried to give her a smile, but it came out more a grimace.

Soon enough though the SUV turned down the right street and pulled to a stop. “Let Henry and Joe help you.” She ordered as she got out so Henry could follow. “How does settling on the couch sound for now? We have plenty of pillows.”

“Plenty.” Henry reinforced with a chuckle.

“And you can watch TV if it doesn’t hurt your head too much.”

Blake didn’t even try to answer until he was deposited on the couch. “Do you have to go in?” She’d spent hours of her day waiting at the hospital, even with the time she stepped out, he knew he schedule like the back of his hand and knew there was work she’d missed.

She sat on the wood table in front of the couch. “I told them I’m taking the day; you’re going to need extra help for a week at least. I’ve been in a car accident before, I’m aware of just how terrible the pain is at first.” She studied him a second. “Do you need anything before I run upstairs?”

“No. I’m good right here.” Finding the least painful position to lay in, he did his best to close his eyes. Elsewhere in the house he could hear murmurs as Henry and Elizabeth spoke, the soft sounds of feet on the stairs, the fridge opening and closing. All normal sounds of not being alone. It made him feel warm and content as he allowed sleep to take over.

Somewhere as he floated in and out of dream states, he thought he smelled her perfume as she came into the room, a soft touch of someone brushing his hair back, the feel of a kiss to his crown. He didn’t surface enough to question it.

Later, when the McCord kids were home, Blake did his best to sit upright and engage slightly. From his spot, he could hear Stevie and Ali making dinner and Jason complaining about a teacher, all the while Elizabeth was carrying on conversations with them all. After dinner was eaten and Henry was home, The kids piled around him carefully, leaving space at the other end of the couch for Elizabeth and a massive bowl of popcorn, Henry on the floor in front of her and they watched a movie. The screen made his head swim, so he closed his eyes to block it out. He didn’t want them to leave just yet, so he kept quiet. Halfway through the movie, he felt a touch on his shoulder and did his best to turn to see, Elizabeth was watching him, concern filling her eyes.

==

Blake woke the following morning to the sounds of a family getting ready for their day. He could smell coffee and eggs wafting up as he listened to the kids bickering and gathering their things. He stayed there, content, until movement at the doorway drew his attention. Elizabeth was watching him, dressed for work.

“Morning. I was wondering when you would wake up.”

He cleared his throat. “What time is it?”

“Almost eight. Stevie just left, Henry’s walking out now with the other two. I’m not leaving for another half hour, I had Nadine rearrange a few things for today.” She entered the room. “At the moment I can’t cut out until at least four, so you’re going to be on your own most of the day. Will you be okay?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. I’m going to bring a drink and some breakfast up before I go. Try to take it easy, the next few days will be the worst. Also, we need to get you a follow up with a doctor about therapy, is there anywhere specific you want me to call?”

“I’m not really sure where to start.”

She nodded. “I’ll make a list.” She gave him a soft smile, leaning forward to brush back the hair that had fallen over his forehead. “Just relax today, if you need anything, call me. We’ll figure it out.”

Forty-five minutes later, Blake realized he had the next nine hours to kill on his own.

==

Blake spent the morning simply laying as still as he could in the bed, every movement set off ripples of pain from his skull down past his lower back. Gingerly, he’d worked on the juice and toast Elizabeth’d delivered before she’d left. Eventually, he accepted he’d have to get out of bed and use the bathroom, gritting his teeth as he attempted to cross the hall. Once there, he decided that since he was up, he might as well attempt to clean up a bit and undressed, getting his first look at himself in the mirror. His left shoulder and chest were covered in angry looking bruises, glancing down, he found similar bruises on his hips. _Seatbelts save lives, but they hurt like hell,_ he thought to himself. Breathing through the persistent pain, he turned on the water and found a towel before stepping in and doing his best to wash up. Once, he slipped, jerking to steady himself, which he was successful at, but it only caused him to cry out in pain. Finally, he got out and dried and found some fresh clothes.

Wandering downstairs, he spotted his medicine on the island along with a note in Elizabeth’s quick handwriting- _Call me when you’re up._ Looking around, he found his phone plugged in in the corner as he wondered how much of her schedule for the day had changed. Taking a chance, he settled one the soft sofa in the den and pressed speed dial on his phone.

On the second ring, she picked up. “Blake, how are you?”

“Alive. I’m not interrupting anything, am I? I didn’t know how much of your day got changed around.”

“It was nothing.” She brushed off. “Did you get anymore sleep?”

“Yeah.” He tried to work out what she meant by that first part, but it made his head ache. “I’m honestly not used to sitting around doing nothing all day.”

“I know. I sat down with Nadine earlier after the staff meeting and we’ve lightened my load for the rest of the week. I’ll still have to come and go, but you won’t be alone as much. Also, I got that list of doctors together, so tonight you can pick someone.”

“I appreciate that. What did you mean ‘it was nothing’, you didn’t walk out of a meeting, did you?”

She sighed. “Blake. Fine, I was in Dalton’s office with the other advisors, but I’d already briefed him, and he knew I was expecting your call. Now, I can tell you haven’t taken any pain medicine, so go do that and eat, Henry’s going to try and beat me home.”

“Yeah, okay.” They ended that call and he sank back, wondering at how he’d gotten so lucky.


	54. Chief

Nadine was loading a box when Blake burst into her office, looking uncharacteristically ruffled.

“I get it why you’re leaving but she wants me to be the interim you and I don’t think I can do that without you.” He rushed out.

“Blake, slow down.” She crossed the room to him, tugging him to the couch. She had years now of experience handling Blake when he worked himself up over something, the best thing was always to get him seated; it seemed once his body remembered to be still, his mind would start to calm too. “Start from the beginning.”

“I was just in The Secretary’s office, during the shutdown it will be just Jay and I, she’s named me interim chief of staff.”

“Huh.” She considered that. “I’m not surprised.”

“You’re not?” He was breathing hard. “I can’t run the whole department.”

She sat next to him, a hand on his back, rubbing circles, trying to calm his rapid breathing. “It could be argued that after running The Secretary, everyone else will be easy.”

“Oh god.” He gasped, complying when she pushed him forward.

“Breathe, Blake. And you won’t be going it alone. I’m retiring, not dying.”

Soon enough, he sat back up, looking somewhat better. “Really? I won’t be alone?”

“I’ll be a call away.” She nodded. “Tell you what, why don’t you stop by tonight? We can talk. Drink.”

“I think I’d like that.” He drew a slow breath in and out. “Oh, I feel like crap now, what have I done to myself.” He sat back and let his head fall backward. “If I’m going to be in charge, I need to get over this.”

“You panicked a bit is all, it’s to be expected. Getting a promotion like that, even temporarily, out of the blue is a major change.”

He looked at her with eyes wide. “This is what a panic attack feels like?” He saw her nod. “Oh, this sucks.”

“You’ll live.” She patted his arm. “I’ll see you tonight.”

==

Blake looks miles better when he stepped into her apartment that evening.

“I made dinner, hope you’re hungry.” Nadine waved him into the kitchen. “I’m not planning on moving yet, maybe down the road. So, if you ever need me, I’m in the area.”

“That’s good. I’m sure I’ll need something eventually.”

She plated the food. “Would it help if I pointed out that you did a lot of my job alongside me already?” When he gave her a confused look, she responded with a soft smile. “You were supposed to be like… a step above receptionist, but you’ve always done so much more. I welcomed it, you’re good at what you put your mind to, and I discovered early on that you were good at managing people. I let you take over whatever you were willing to handle.”

“I was what?” He blinked at her.

“Let me ask you something.” She took a seat beside him. “Adele, Russell Jackson’s secretary, you’ve worked with her a lot.”

“Yes.”

“How often does she leave her desk?”

His brows pulled together in confusion. “What?”

“Adele does a _lot_ and manages Russell and his moods, but how often does she do anything that requires she leave her office or his?”

“I- I don’t know. Occasionally she goes with him to meetings in the building to take notes.”

“When he feels the situation requires more than an intern.” She added. “Does she travel with him?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“What does she do?”

“Um. Answers the phones, keeps his schedule… Coffee and lunch I suppose. Emails, general paperwork.”

Nadine nodded. “Do you know who Vincent Marsh’s receptionist was?” She saw him shake his head. “Judy Baker. Nice enough woman. She literally did all those things we just listed for Adele; do you know what she never did?” Another shake of his head. “She never traveled with us. She took notes, but never actively participated in getting policy created. I maintained most of the official schedule.” She reached out and touched his arm to make sure he listened to what she said next. “She was never his confidant or ever went to his home. She would never have been considered for interim chief of staff. I know that as the personal assistant that means a bit more responsibility than just a receptionist, but still.”

He stared at her a minute, thinking as he chewed. “So… When Matt made that joke that time that I’m the one in charge…”

She smiled. “It wasn’t entirely a joke. And I really do think you already have the hardest part of the job covered, Elizabeth’s a complex woman to keep in line and going forward and you already do that without breaking a sweat.” Her fond smile shifted to a knowing smirk. “Or much of one anyway.”

“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you use her first name. It’s weird.”

“I agree. Anyway, I’m honestly not sure what I can really share with you that you don’t already know. You’ll have to find the confidence on your own, but now you’ll have the clearance to back you up. No needing Jay or I to swoop in and make someone listen to you. And on that, when was the last time any of us questioned something you did? If you needed help achieving something, we simply took care of it. That’s just not how it usually works.” She shook her head, making her curls bounce slightly. “I think some of it stemmed from coming from a world outside politics, you had no frame of reference really for what was expected and she had no expectations for you to fit into. So, you made it your own, and there is nothing wrong with that. It does, however, make you a bit of a unicorn. And it makes sense why she wants you to spread your wings and do something bigger with your skills.”

“I like being her assistant.”

The fond smile returned again. “Do you? Because I think if you spent a week truly only doing what you should be doing, you’d hate it. I think really you like being part of her family, and that’s okay, but you will still be her family in a new role.”

“Jay thinks she’ll run for president.”

Nadine laughed. “That again.”

“He told her so.”

“Did he now?”

“I was outside her office. Hovering. It was a while ago, but he mentioned it again today. He said while I’m thinking about what job I’ll have; I should think about what that job will be when we get to Pennsylvania Avenue.”

“Ah. I see now. Whoever she names chief of staff might end up following her there. The senior staff all would follow her there if they wanted.”

“I don’t think I could be Russell Jackson.”

“Well, she hasn’t made anything official, in fact, she’s been against the idea every time it’s been mentioned. But that’s a problem way down the road, Blake.”

“I know.”

“Focus on today. She needs you with her, not furloughed. Until the shutdown ends, she’ll have you and Jay to help run things. I won’t give you my rolodex, but I’ll let you look at it whenever you wish.”

It was his turn to smile. “Sounds good.”


	55. The Next Phase

“Blake. Blake! Any idea if the Paris plan is still a go?” Jay jogged to catch up with his friend’s quick pace. “Also, any idea how cool she’d be with me not going?”

That made Blake stop in his tracks and turn. “What?”

He panted. “Look. I have to do the Dad thing with Chloe, Paris is just too much right now but…” He waved his hand at the empty offices. “Before I simply would have bowed out and it wouldn’t have mattered.”

“So, tell her you need to be with Chloe, she won’t mind.” Blake started to walk again. “I’m going, Henry is going and he’s pretty helpful when need be. We can make do.”

“But…travelling with none of the staff? We’re already down Matt, Daisy, and Nadine.”

“Are you wanting to convince her you should stay or are you trying to convince yourself you have to go, because I am telling you you just need to talk to her.” He enunciated the final words. His tablet pinged. “She’s on her way up.” He stopped by his desk to grab a coffee cup waiting there and walked backward up the aisle. “Just be honest with her about the Chloe thing, I’m telling you, she won’t even bat an eye.”

“These last two weeks have just-”

“We are surviving, Jay.” He called out, turning the corner at the end and vanishing.

Jay huffed and looked around at the empty desks. Surviving, perhaps, but it didn’t mean they could keep carrying on like this. There was a reason State had so many employees.

When Blake and the secretary appeared several minutes later, Jay watched as his friend gestured wildly, the message to _just talk to her_ blatantly clear. So, he did. Sort of. He didn’t bring up Paris specifically, but he brought up the problems he’d been having with childcare, figuring it was a good lead up to the travel part, and he was floored when she simply told him to bring Chloe in the next day. There wasn’t much time in the moment though to ponder on the idea before the conversation shifted into finding the new Nadine, the three of them taking their new usual seats to hash out the day ahead.

Their new normal was much cozier with only the three of them around, they often simply spent the day in the conference room or in the inner office, though from the conference room, Blake could still keep watch over the phones and anyone coming and going. The cozy feeling was also why none of them missed a beat when the coffee carafe was empty and Elizabeth simply motioned for him to pass his depressingly empty mug over, pouring half her latte in. They’d been reduced to sharing one workspace and now one cup of coffee, the shutdown couldn’t be over fast enough.

Russell storming the room made him jump, sloshing coffee over his hand. Jay wasn’t a major fan of the White House Chief of Staff on a good day, but he could appreciate that this shutdown was making his job ten times harder than normal. Both he and Blake turned in their seats to openly eavesdrop on the conversation. The pair hadn’t moved into the inner office so while Russell might assume some level of privacy, he and Blake knew by now their boss would simply view it as reading them in in real time.

“Did you mention Chloe?” Blake asked.

“Sort of. Not Paris, but childcare. She said to bring her in tomorrow.” He shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s so stressful around here right now.”

Blake smiled. “No, it’ll be good. MSec loves Chloe.”

Jay spun his chair back, watching through the doorways. “What’s he saying?” He squinted as if that would help hear Russell’s lowered voice. His question had Blake pushing back in his chair, rolling along the room until he got a good angle. They both watched as her hands started adjusting her jacket and shirt, making moves like she would take the jacket off before pulling away. Jay moved his chair as well. “Why does he have to come in here and cause problems.”

“I think she’s got it under control.” Blake spoke even as he pulled out his tablet and began typing.

“What’s that?” He tried to see what his friend was doing.

“Planning out a ‘Russell ruined our momentum’ schedule.”

“Not under control.” Jay shook his head, making Blake look up again just as the secretary’s jacket dropped into a chair in a wadded ball.

“How does lunch out sound?”

“Somewhere with a bar.” Jay rose. “Time for damage control.” As Russell vanished toward the elevators, he made his way out of the conference room, frowning when the lights flicked off.

==

Lunch had been stilted; Jay realized as they tried to eat a work-topic-free meal that the three of them did very little these days that wasn’t work related. He wasn’t entirely sure Blake had even been leaving except to shower and change clothes. On the way out the door that evening, he found his friend. “Are you leaving yet?”

“Uh, no.”

“Blake. When was the last time you properly went home?”

“I- I’m trying to keep everything in the air. I drop one ball and there’s no coffee or food, I drop another ball and we get ambushed in a press conference; another and we screw up the optics of something.” He flailed his hands. “There are not enough hours in the day to be four people at once.”

“Four? I thought you were just doing your thing and temporary Nadine.”

Blake huffed. “And I’ve been keeping track of what I can of the media, which is a constant horrifying nightmare, plus I’ve been editing and reviewing speeches.”

“Oh. Why didn’t you mention it? I’ll help.”

“Because you have Chloe and I can’t help with that.”

Jay nodded. “Well, tomorrow she’ll be here.”

==

Blake was standing at his desk when Jay turned up the next morning, pushing Chloe in her stroller. “Hey.”

“Please tell me you went home last night?” He caught the look Blake shot him. “Man.”

Blake simply waved him off before crouching down and greeting Chloe, unbuckling her and picking her up. “Good morning, Beautiful.”

Jay watched them a second. “I’m going to go put her stuff in my office, you good?”

“Yeah, we’re good. Why don’t you just put her toys here, then we can keep an eye on her from the table?”

“Sure, good idea.” He disappeared toward his office as Blake’s tablet went off.

“Let’s go say good morning, huh?” He tickled her belly and she giggled. “I need to carry this cup and it’s hot, so you can’t be all wiggly, okay?” He collected the coffee cup and carried Chloe to the elevators. It always surprised people, but he loved kids and Jay’s daughter was still in the sweet and innocent stage, which made it even easier. “When the door opens, you have to say good morning nice and loud, okay?”

“Otay.” She answered back, holding on to his arm with one arm and the lapel of his jacket with her other hand. Soon enough, the elevator dinged, and the door opened and Chloe cried out. “Dood morning!”

Elizabeth burst into laughter. “Good morning precious girl!” She crossed the lobby to them, shifting her bags to one hand as Blake held out her coffee. “I don’t want that, I want this.” She reached for Chloe, transferring her to her own hip and handing Blake her bags. Chloe giggled loudly as Elizabeth peppered her with kisses. “Oh, to be greeted every morning like this!”

“Ma’am?” Blake asked.

She beamed up at him teasingly. “Not your style, Blake?” She began leading the way through the seventh floor, still carrying Jay’s daughter.

“No, Ma’am.”

“I’ll take the coffee now.” She reached for the cup only to have it pulled out of reach. “Blake, what’re you afraid of?”

“Do you know how many burns happen per year from hot liquids?”

She huffed. “Fine.” They rounded another corner and she placed Chloe’s feet on the floor. “Wow, look at all those toys! Let’s see what Daddy brought today, huh?” Before Blake knew it, he was standing by Jay and watching as their boss sat on the floor like it was totally normal.

“Yeah.” Blake spoke softly to not disrupt the moment. “Today will be a good day.”

Jay chuckled. “All our problems solved by the presence of Chloe Whitman.”

==

Blake was finally, finally making it home, he hated admitting to Jay that he’d been working nearly around the clock, but his friend had made good points about time off, though perhaps he’d been trying to convince himself. He made it as far as the couch before his personal cell rang. “Hey, Jay.”

“I just picked up Chloe from Matt’s. We didn’t, it wasn’t work related, technically. Switching the trip to Peoria got me out of asking for the Paris trip off, but he said I need to draw a line and tell MSec I can’t work the late nights and weekends, especially when I have Chloe.” Blake heard him let out a heavy sigh. “He says it won’t be a big deal.”

“You mean the thing I’ve been pushing you about for weeks?’

“Neither of you have kids, though. It’s hard to be a parent and have a job like ours.”

“But she does. I’ve been in her house; I’ve been there when she had to miss things or had to walk away from things. It doesn’t matter that they’re practically all adults, she still hates missing out. It’s why I have spent part of my entire job slotting in the kids’ activities because then she at least gets to go to some of them. She wants that to be a priority, so I make sure it is. If you want to make a hard and fast plan for Chloe, we’ll do the same.”

“You think it will be that easy?”

“Yes. Talk to her.” His other phone went off. “I’ve got to go. I need to confirm a few things for Peoria.”

“Okay, have fun.”

“Yes. I get to go stay in a quaint bed and breakfast for the weekend that I’m sure is all designed to be romantic except I’ll be alone save for our boss and her husband in what I’m sure will be in the next room who are thirty years into their honeymoon phase.”

His ramble made Jay chuckle. “Earplugs, Man.”

Blake made a pained sound before disconnecting the call.

==

Blake stepped into Jay’s apartment, it was Monday night so there was no Chloe running around, though there were plenty of signs of the little girl everywhere. He held out a bottle of scotch. “Congratulations on your promotion.”

Jay chuckled. “Is this for the secret file?”

“Tomorrow it can be.” He took a seat on the couch. “I am beyond thrilled to pass the mantel to you and go back to my old job.”

“You’re still going to help me though, right?”

“Tomorrow we will block out the official calendar so you can’t be scheduled on your nights or weekends with Chloe. We’ll work out who will take what. Who knows, maybe I’ll dive in and handle things.”

“Sounds good.”

“And all it took was you being honest and telling her what you need.”

“I just… It’s hard.”

“What is?”

“Admitting I don’t have it all together.”

Blake spluttered a chuckle. “Does anyone?” He shook his head. “You are fully read in on like… eighty-five percent of the unspoken parts of my job. You’ve helped deal with the PTSD and all the other issues that came along with that, you’ve been there for enough of the bad days and you’re worried about admitting you don’t have it all together?”

“Well, when you put it like that…” He took a drink from the glass in his hand. “Eighty-five percent, huh?”

“Some things you will never know.”


	56. Confess

“I’m firing Blake.”

Henry stared at the water going down the bathroom sink, trying to piece together sense from the non-sequitur. Not able to find any, he turned the water off and stepped into the doorway. “What?”

“I’m firing Blake. In a year, I had him put it in my calendar.”

“You told him?” He was starting to wonder if this was some dream.

“Well, he needs time to find something else.”

Climbing onto the bed, he sat so he could face her. “Okay, back up, back up. Start at the beginning.”

He caught her shrug. “I had reason to stop the last few days and really think about all he does for me. A few months ago, he pointed out that he assembles binders of… policy, of information on people, on protocols. He stays ten steps ahead of me, he literally gets other world leaders and terrorists, people who often don’t want to speak to me, to the table; or at least on the phone. He manages the staff, in the whole building! Did you know the detail guys defer to him?”

He shook his head.

“We were on the way somewhere and I wanted to change course and Jimmy actually looked at Blake for confirmation. He knows so much about not just the staff he has to interact with, but everyone!”

“I’m not surprised.”

“He wants more. Has wanted more for years. I started asking around the building this week about him, then I asked over at the White House. The picture that got painted for me wasn’t of a personal assistant.” She looked up at him and he could see in her eyes that she hated the idea of letting Blake go. He couldn’t blame her. “He digs in on negotiations. He holds sway over people to make things go well.”

“How did he take it?”

“He was horrified, at first, but I think he’ll warm to the idea. I’ll miss him, but this is what’s best for him.”

“That must’ve been some revelation.”

“I stepped back and saw him as a mom.” She went quiet and he let her gather her thoughts. “I hate it though.”

“We love him. He’s still a part of this family, make sure he knows that. Can I just… Can I make a request?”

“Sure.”

“Can your next assistant be a woman?”

He waited as her brows pulled together as she thought. “Why?”

“Having Blake has been, at times, a serious test of my faith. Of my resolve and understanding. I’m not sure I could handle starting over.” He debated a moment. “There have been times when I’ve had to hand you to him and… It’s really hard to know another man is that close to your wife. I don’t know if you know this, but I get a little territorial when it comes to you and the kids.”

She smirked. “Oh, I know.”

He swallowed. “A good example, the state dinner for the Danish head of state a few years ago? I had my own business to attend to, which was prearranged, but I came into the ballroom and you two were at the table talking to that ambassador and his wife. And I just stopped and stared. Your back was leaned into him, his arm was around you and you were both grinning at whatever the wife was talking about.”

“Their kids.”

“It was hard not to see it as intimate. I got so angry, I actually started to storm over, despite myself, and then Blake looked up and smiled and told you I’d arrived. There was no rush that there was something nefarious to be hidden, he simply stood and relinquished the chair. That’s when I realized he’d plated dinner for me.” He hung his head. “And you leaned right into me when I sat down, like you hadn’t been doing it to him not thirty seconds before and… and like that he was gone. You didn’t even look up to see where he went. It was like he’d never been there, even the conversation carried on. I was the one who looked up.”

He could see her waiting for him to carry on.

“He blocked anyone who tried to come to the table while I ate. He didn’t let you get called away, he made sure you and I got to stay there. And it messed with my head.”

“Why did you never tell me this?”

“I didn’t want my jealousy and anger to be a wedge. You needed him.”

“When- When were the other times?” He heard her voice catch and he studied her, could see the worry.

“Later that night you and I danced and then I had to go finish my thing… When I was walking away, I looked back at the two of you dancing.” His voice broke slightly, but he sucked in a ragged breath. “I’ve seen you two dance so many times. I’ve watched him lead you away, holding you like I taught him, which is just some sort of horrible irony or something. I’ve seen him hold you were you were falling apart only to not even blink and hand you to me when I got there.”

“Baby…” She reached for his hand and he let her take it.

“I’ve done my best to make peace with those feelings. Like I said, a test of my faith.”

“Okay, female assistant.” She paused and he sensed there would be more questions. “Why didn’t you ever say something?”

“You would have sent him away without even thinking about it. And you love him. And he loves you.”

“Have you ever told him?”

“He and I talk all the time, but no.”

She pulled him until he adjusted to lay beside her. “I wish you would have said something.”

“I felt horrible for getting jealous and angry about an arrangement I was in support of.”

==

He let Blake into the house and handed him a beer.

“That’s telling.” Was Blake’s only comment.

“The kids are out for the night, Elizabeth’s…at the White House.” He led the younger man to the family room. “I heard you’re getting fired.”

Blake grinned a chuckled. “Yeah, nearly made me have a heart attack, but yes, I will be getting fired.”

“I didn’t get a whole lot of the story.” He led, grinning when Blake squinted at him. “Fine, she said she became aware of your worth and your potential.”

“My parents came to town and, under her suggestion, I took them in to the office. They want me to work my way up in the world, which they shared, loudly. She defended me, no surprise.” He sipped his beer. “Honestly, half the stuff I didn’t even know she knew about.”

“She knows you do a lot.”

“I’m trusted with a lot.”

Henry let the conversation lapse for a minute before diving in. “She’s the one who pushed for me to invite you over. That’s why she and the kids are all out.”

“Uh-oh.”

He chuckled. “No, it’s… I confessed some stuff to her and she thought I owed it to you to be honest. She didn’t say it in so many words, but she’s working up to this run for president and she hinted that my circle of trustable confidants is going to be shrinking. She wanted to make sure I made the effort.” He sighed. “And cleared the air.”

“You guys are still my family; I don’t plan on that changing.”

“Good.”

“I didn’t know the air needed clearing between us, I thought we always kept things out in the open.”

“I… I have struggled. At first it was easy to keep everything clear in my head but as time wore on and everyone became more comfortable together, the lines blurred. It’s hard to see her with you.” He watched Blake start to balk. “It’s never… I never expected jealousy and anger to feel so overwhelming.”

Blake leaned forward, placing the bottle on the table. “Why did you never say anything?”

“Because she needed you. I couldn’t be the wrench in everything.”

“Henry…”

“If I had come to you and honestly said that seeing you with my wife angered me, what would you have done?’

“I would have stopped, immediately.”

“That’s my point.”

“I still don’t follow.”

He huffed, running his hand over his face. “Every time I would see you with her, every time, you would instantly direct her attention to me. You’ve…” He waved his hand in the air. “You automatically line up our schedules so we have more time together. How can I be jealous of the guy who makes sure the busiest woman on earth has time for me? I mean, nearly twenty-five years of anniversaries that she either missed, or got called away from, or was late too and the last six? She’s been fully present and uninterrupted for every one. What kind of guy would it make me to be angry at that guy?” He hung his head. “You made sure my marriage stayed in tact in a city and a job where it’s very common that they don’t.”

“I would say that makes you normal.” Henry’s head shot up at Blake’s reply. Blake only settled back in his seat. “You are madly in love with her. I’ve not found that person yet who makes me feel that way, but even the relationships I have had, if someone else was doing those things? I wouldn’t be inviting them into my house for beer.” Henry watched him press his lips together. “Look. I am sorry for the role any of my actions played in your pain. It was never my intention.”

“I know.”

“My only intention was ever to return her to you, more or less in one piece.” Henry smiled slightly at that. “I’ll back off being so familiar.”

“She still needs you.”

“No, she needs you. I’m simply a habit… Habits can be broken. And it sounds like this one will, I’m out of a job in a year.”


	57. Walter

“Why do I have to be the liaison with Walter?” Jay asked as he walked into the inner office. “Why me?”

Both Elizabeth and Blake blinked at him, surprised by the intrusion. “Well.” She spoke after a second. “You are my foreign policy guy.”

“I know, but he’s…” He shook a fist.

“And, he likes you.” She finished. “You balance one another well.”

“Balance, Ma’am?”

She put down the cup of tea she’d been enjoying. “Walter tends to the hyperbolic and rambles, but he’s brilliant. You’re also brilliant but you focus on the little details. You balance one another well.” She repeated. “I would pair him with Blake, but we’ve already seen what happens to him when he gets even a whiff of doomsday speculation.”

Blake gave a put-out look but didn’t comment.

“Why are you coming in here asking that today, though? I didn’t know you had anything going on with Walter at the moment.”

“Walter sent me up his latest report with a note for me to read it urgently. He’s got some concerns.”

“Oh god.” Blake finally commented, sagging back in his chair. “I hate it when Walter’s concerned.”

Elizabeth waved at hand at him and shot Jay a look as if to say _see._ “Have you talked to him?”

“I’m on my way down there now. I actually came in to tell you that, sort of derailed there; I was thinking about why me and that’s what came out instead, sorry.”

“Not a problem.” She watched him start to walk out. “Hey, Jay? Take him a cup of Blake’s coffee.” When he nodded, she smiled. “It might appease Walter long enough to get the bulk of his concerns on the table before he spins off like he does.”

Jay chuckled and walked out.


	58. DS

“You want to do what, now?”

Blake shrugged at Matt, he and the detail agent were currently sitting outside the White House waiting. “I was thinking about going into Diplomatic Services.” He and the lead agent for the secretary’s security team spent many hours together and over the years had become good friends.

“Why?”

“I work alongside you guys every day already; I know what the job looks like. I’m supposed to be finding my next path and I thought maybe since I’m already familiar.”

“Sure, sure. I get it, but you’re so good at what you do now. Not to mention…” Matt looked him over. “Have you ever fired a gun?”

“No.”

Matt just shook his head. “Look, you would probably be awesome at it, and if you want to pursue it, I’ll definitely put in a recommendation. I’m not sure though that’s the best use of your skills. Not to mention, there’s the whole being willing to die for someone else thing.” He huffed. “We do a lot of the same thing, you and me, and I’m glad you’re the one in your job. Truly. POTUS’ assistant is a woman, quite a few assistants are women, many of them have no desire to help security out, they’re just sort of along for the ride. I don’t have to turn around and make sure you’re safe too. You don’t have to be more than that.” He sighed, glancing at his watch. “How long was this meeting supposed to take?”

“I scheduled in twenty minutes.”

“It’s pushing it, should you go check?”

He checked his own watch. “Give her another five, Russell may have waylaid her in the hall.”

“If it takes too long, we’ll be hitting traffic getting back.”

“I’ll text Nadine just in case.” He pulled out a phone and sent off a message. “You remembered tonight is date night, right? I promised Henry she’ll be home by six thirty so they can make the reservation.”

“Yeah, I’ve got it.”

“Good.”

“And you’ll have her down to me in time to make the drive, right?”

“I have set an alarm. There she is.” He collected his paperwork as Matt climbed out.


	59. Out

Greeting the agents standing outside the door, Blake let himself in and headed straight for the stairs, as far as he knew, all the McCords were out, so he didn’t bother calling out. As he approached the master bedroom, he stopped, realizing that perhaps he wasn’t alone in the house. Backing up, he glanced into the bedroom he’d just passed. Sitting on the bed with her back to the door was Alison and it sounded like she was crying. “Ali?”

Alison jumped, she hadn’t realized anyone had come in, hadn’t expected anyone, and glanced over her shoulder to see Blake patiently waiting to be acknowledged. “Hey, Blake. I didn’t hear you come in.” She sniffled.

“I just- Your mom needed a different pair of shoes. Is everything okay?” He was surprised she was even there; she should’ve been in class at college.

“Yeah.” Her voice was raspy as it waivered.

Deciding that this just might be more important that shoes, Blake stepped into her bedroom and crossed to sit in the chair at her vanity. “Hey. What’s wrong?” He watched tears well up in her eyes and he couldn’t help his mind beginning to race over what could have Alison so upset. He dropped his voice to a near whisper. “It’s just you and I here, you can tell me anything.” He tipped his head to the side and just waited, attempting to exude an air of calm.

Eventually, Alison drew a shuddered breath and then swallowed. “There’s this girl at school, in my dorm, her name is Jessie. We got to know one another at the beginning of school and then now that I have a room to myself… She started stopping by… a lot.”

He didn’t interrupt her pause, waiting to see where this was going.

“We kind of crossed over into… more than friends?” She chewed her lip a minute. “She’s gay or open or fluid or whatever, we haven’t talked about it at _all_ , but she thinks I should come with her to meet her family and then mentioned coming here and when I freaked out, she got angry at me.” She shook her head. “When I said I didn’t even know what I am, she said some really horrible things to me and I just… ran away.” The room lapsed into silence for several minutes before she risked glancing up at him, his face unreadable. “Am I broken?”

“No.” He soothed, confident in at least that much. “Can I, can I ask you a couple questions?” He waited for her to nod. “You had boyfriends in high school, yes?” Another nod. “Was Jessie your first girlfriend?” A nod again. Making a choice, he shifted so he was seated beside her and wrapped one arm around her. “First, you don’t have to have all the answers… ever. And the answers will change as you get older. I had pretty much convinced myself I was straight until I was away at Harvard, had girlfriends constantly. Then I swung the totally opposite way in college and decided that what I really was was gay; and it was like starting the whole process over again. Finally, a few years went by and I accepted I was bisexual, which still isn’t all that accepted or understood. Even after I told my family, I was afraid to bring anyone home because no matter who it was, it proved I was just gay or just straight, there was no winning.” He sighed. “So, my first bit of advice is you are the only person who gets to define you. And you are the only person who gets to decide when to do it and who to share it with. There’s nothing wrong with not wanting to go meet her family or bring her here.”

She finally risked looking up at him as a tear managed to escape, she brushed it away with her hand. “Okay.”

“And I don’t need to point out to you toxic relationships and how it isn’t just men who create them.”

That brought a humorless laugh out of her. “Thanks, Blake.” She rested her head on his shoulder a moment. “How old were you when you got so comfortable talking about it like this?”

He checked his watch. “About twenty minutes ago years old.”

His answer made her sit straight and look at him in surprise. “What?”

He dropped his arm back to his lap. “I don’t believe I’ve ever said all of that to anyone.” He shrugged. “Even when I came out to your mom, the finer details weren’t part of it. There was also a lot more rambling. So, Jessie, forget for a moment the whole gender thing, are you happy in that relationship?”

Alison thought on it a moment. “If it was a guy, I wouldn’t put up for a second with some of the stuff that was said to me.”

“There’s your answer then. As far as telling your family, that’s up to you, but I will say, home should be the one place you feel comfortable being yourself.” His phone buzzed, cutting him off as he pulled it out. “It’s your mom, probably wondering if I’ve run away for good. Let me talk to her and grab her shoes, I’ll be right back.”

Left alone, Alison thought about the conversation they’d just had. When Blake reappeared in her doorway a short time later, a pair of black and white pumps dangling from his fingers, she gave him an attempt at a smile. “I’m glad you had to come by today, Blake.”

He gave her a curt nod. “Anytime. And you can always call me too, you know.”

He watched her draw a breath as if to speak but then hold it a moment. After a beat, she finally made a decision. “I think I want to tell my parents. Even if I’m not with anyone right now, I want what you said, I want to have a comfortable place to be me. I don’t want to feel like I’m lying or hiding anything.” She stood and moved closer to him. “Would you… Would you be there?”

“Of course.” He glanced down at the shoes in his hand. “I do need to get back now though. When you’re ready, just say the word.”

Ali nodded again.

==

Blake hadn’t said a single word all evening. It had been weeks since the day he’d talked to Alison, but she’d finally reached out and asked him to come for dinner. Stevie and Jason both had other plans, she’d told him that she thought she’d feel more comfortable talking to just her parents first. They’d made it through dinner and dessert already and so far, she hadn’t found the nerve. Blake finally caught her in the kitchen. “Hey.” He caught her arm. “You can change your mind, it’s not a big deal.”

“I dragged you here though.” She frowned.

“Yes, it’s been torture to have a homecooked meal made by your dad instead of eating alone.” His slight snark made her smile a bit. “Take a breath.” He waited. “Now, either walk back in there and talk or don’t. It’s really that easy. If tonight isn’t the night, I’ll come back when you want to try again. And again. Until you are ready.” He waited for her to nod in understanding and then pulled her into a quick hug. “Of course, if you invite me over too many times, your dad’s going to start thinking entirely different things and I’m not sure he would just get past a twelve-year age difference.” He cheeked.

Alison laughed. “You forget, Stevie brought home a guy twice her age.” She looked up at him a second. “Now.”

“Now?” He asked, confused.

“I’m ready right now.” She grinned. “Let’s get back in there before I lose my nerve.”

“Lead on.” He let her go, following with a soft smile as they made their way back to the living room. He took a seat in one of the chairs.

“Mom, Dad, I-” She glanced at Blake who gave her an encouraging nod. “I was dating someone at school, we broke up a few weeks ago, but I didn’t tell you about them before… but I didn’t want to keep lying to you by not saying anything at all.” She bit her lip a minute. “Her name was Jessie.” She let out the breath she’d been holding. “I know, I had boyfriends in high school… I really liked them. I also really liked Jessie, for a while anyway.” Her eyes found Blake’s again. “I don’t really know what label fits me yet, but I’m not in a rush to pick. I don’t know if the next person I fall for will be a guy or a girl.”

The room was silent for a bit and then it was Elizabeth who was on her feet, reaching out for her daughter. “Oh, Noodle!” She swept her into a tight hug. “Who it is doesn’t matter to us.” She assured. “I’m sorry you broke up and felt you couldn’t share it with us.” She pulled back and cupped her daughter’s cheek. “Your still my sweet girl.”

Henry stood as well and wrapped them both in a big hug. “We love you, Alison.” He pressed a kiss to her hair. “And that will never change.”

When they finally separated, Elizabeth’s eyes bounced from her daughter to Blake and then back again. “I think I understand why Blake’s here tonight now.”

Ali blushed. “Yeah, he was my… moral support, I guess.”

She hugged her daughter again. “He’s good at that.” She turned to Blake and mouthed a thank you over Ali’s shoulder.


	60. Report

The main lobby of the Truman building was packed. Neal allowed the throng to pull him through the main security checkpoint and to the sign in desk. He’d had this meeting on the books for weeks and he had his suspicions about the purpose of the piece he was supposed to write, he was familiar with the Washington game, knew this was a prime opportunity to see how much the government really covered up. He’d done his homework on his target already; the Secretary was a formidable woman, it showed in ever piece ever written about her, every interview, every photo.

“Neal Shin?” He spun around, spotting a very elegant woman walking his way. “Daisy Grant.”

“Hi.” He started to explain that the checkpoint didn’t have his pass only for her to tell the officer that he was with her. He’d heard from other reporters about ‘the seventh floor types’ so it came as little surprise that she would come down and simply expect her word to be taken seriously. _And it begins._ He thought to himself, following her to the bank of elevators as she dug right into telling him just how upset she was that he was the pick for the article. The message was clear- Daisy was not to be trifled with.

When the elevator dinged open to the right floor, Daisy still giving marching orders in his ear, Neal turned to get his first look at where he’d been spending the next two days and was surprised to find the Secretary herself waiting in the lobby with a nervous smile.

“Neal. Welcome to the State Department. I see you’ve met Daisy.” The smile shifted into a bit of an amused smirk, clearly, he surmised, she was aware of the third degree Daisy had been giving him. The Secretary’s greeting was a stark contrast to Daisy’s hostility, he bounced his attention between them as the Secretary attempted to carry on her amiable greeting while Daisy barked more orders over her boss’s words. What floored him though, was how she sounded almost apologetic for her employee’s behavior, even going so far as to crack a joke about it.

The seventh floor, it turned out, was a labyrinth of offices, each one seemingly busier than the last and as he walked next to the Secretary through the hall, he noticed everyone seemed to just go about their work without showing any sort of curiosity as to his presence. At the end of the room, they bumped into the speech writer whose laidback personality seemed to also be a total swing from Daisy’s. He was friendly an open, a clear admirer of his work. Neal wondered if maybe he would be able to give insights about the real secrets of the seventh floor, Matt was, after all, the guy who wrote the speeches to mask the truth.

“So, you don’t find your faith in humanity sometimes shaken by the work you do here?” He asked the Secretary. He watched their responses, the Secretary barely reacted at all and even seemed perhaps a bit amused that he was so bold to ask it, but Matt’s response was a bit more telling with the way his sucked in a breath, his eyes darting to his boss to wait for her to reply first.

“I mean, it’s not even noon yet.” Matt laughed after his boss gave a non-answer. As they turned to head into a conference room, Neal watched them walk. As they’d turned away, Matt had fallen into step beside her, a hand up behind her back as if he were guiding her away without making contact. Perhaps a mental barrier more for him than her since she clearly was unaware.

The conference room was full of staffers, some seated and some still buzzing around the room. Neal pulled his pass on when Daisy joined them and took a seat at the head of the table. It seemed odd to him that the Secretary wasn’t in that position, the head of the table was always the most dominant spot, but when he looked around the group who were already diving back into the meeting that had apparently already been underway even without the Secretary there, it looked like her mid-table spot was normal.

He decided that the staff seemed to be split into two camps, laid back, the ones he figured he’d be able to corner for comments later, and uptight, the loyalists who would never say a harsh word against their boss. Jay was obviously a loyalist, as was Daisy, but Matt and Kat he made mental notes to try and get an aside with later. As he took his seat, he watched them all get settled back into what they’d been doing, Jay already trying to get the meeting back on course while the assistant introduced himself, shooting Daisy a look when he cracked a bit of a joke.

Neal leaned back and watched the work begin. The assistant vanished somewhere for a minute, not that Neal even took much notice. It was Jays sotto voce ‘so you will want to arrive early for the passed apps’ and her almost embarrassed brush off that made Neal frown. It was an odd aside, especially in the middle of a meeting. And then the assistant jumped in with ‘I’ve arranged for a platter for you in the green room’ and Neal felt his brows rise. The tone wasn’t deferment as if he’d done her bidding, but more like he’d done it despite her, which was confirmed instantly in her reaction that it wasn’t necessary.

“You’ll have all the appetizers you want.” The assistant carried on over her objections. Neal glanced around the table, not a single other person found the interchange surprising or even remotely interesting. That told him the assistant’s behavior was something they were used to.

The meeting carried on for a bit longer and then Neal followed the Secretary and Kat into the inner office. From his spot on the couch, he took in the room- tastefully decorated, desk piled high with paperwork, enough seats, he noticed, for her staff to be able to join her and all sit down. He took notes about the video call, aware when both women glanced his way a time or two as he scribbled. He was well aware the call was off the record, but he still wanted to remember questions for later.

The assistant reappeared, doing something across the room that Neal ignored as the call wrapped up, he was surprised when it was Kat that snapped at him about the notes while the Secretary simply brushed off her concerns. _Perhaps Kat is more of a loyalist than I thought_ , he thought to himself as she took away the pages he’d written on as the assistant vanished and then reappeared with the Secretary’s coat, grabbing her bags as he led the way out of the room.

On the way to the elevators, he watched as the Secretary turned to her assistant. “Can we get my phone? Maybe we have enough time I can talk to Henry before we get there?”

“Sure.” Blake nodded, pulling a locker key from his pocket and fetching two phones out of one locker before joining them in the lift. “He may still be in class though, he’s not due to be out for a bit.” He was tapping on one phone, unlocking it. “He can call or text me though if it’s past eleven.”

She nodded, taking the phone. It took a moment to realize he’d dialed the call before handing it over. The staff was all piled in together as she began leaving a message. “Hey, Henry, we’re headed to the Education Conference and it looks like it’s going to be a long day. Blake says I’ll have my phone on me till eleven if class ends early. Talk to you later.” She disconnected the call and handed the phone back to Blake with a sigh. “I don’t want to miss dinner tonight; all the kids will be home.” She tipped her head back so she could look up at him.

“I’ll get in touch with one of them then and lock down a time and arrange your schedule accordingly.”

“Thanks, Blake.” She gave him a smile as they all stepped into the parking garage, looking around. “Separate vehicles today, since we have Neal.” She turned to her staff. “Who wants the legroom today?”

“Not me.” Daisy shot Neal another look before climbing into the middle SUV and into the back.

The Secretary turned to Jay. “I’m guessing you’re going to insist on riding with me?”

“Obviously.” His amused smirk matched hers.

Blake and Kat exchanged a look and both turned to the second vehicle without comment while Matt looked between the two before wedging himself in the back of the first one.

“Shall we?” The Secretary waved him in. When she climbed in, she patted the shoulder of the agent in the seat in front of her. “Don’t let Blake try to sell you on a bus.”

The agent gave a soft chuckle. “Again, you mean?”

Once the motorcade was headed across town, Neal felt some of the tension ease as the Secretary sank into the paperwork on her lap and Matt began to pepper him with book questions. If he didn’t know exactly who he was sitting beside, he mused to himself, the vibe in the car wouldn’t have given any clue; even, as Jay pointed out, Matt made a remark that essentially undercut his boss’s role and to which she gave little more than a slight shrug. It seemed everyone was aware of Matt’s views of how speechwriters got no attention.

He’d expected there to be a stronger undercurrent of urgency maybe, of stress, but so far the morning had been fairly boring. Granted there had been a few fizzles, Kat about the kids and Daisy about, well, everything, but Neal glanced across the seat as the Secretary passed her speech back to Matt for another rewrite and pulled her glasses off and saw no sense of urgency, perhaps some regret as she began to explain who would be at the conference.

The message that instantly followed as the three behind him jumped in about Amina was loud and clear- something about the topic was off limits, at least in their eyes. Or perhaps the message wasn’t just for him as the Secretary almost apologetically turned his way.

“They’re trying to tell you I have no reason to feel guilty about making a deal that took women out of government positions. But I do have reason and I am guilty.”

“Maybe it’s the Taliban who should feel guilty, Ma’am.” Jay replied from the back, his tone making it clear to Neal that this wasn’t the first time this conversation had been had.

“Good luck with that.”

“So, what else do you feel guilty about?” He glanced over at her as the cabin plunged into silence. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Jay and Matt watching him closely, ready to respond to whatever came next.

“Anything I could’ve done better if I’d thought about it longer.” Her answer didn’t ease the tension in their bodies, Neal realized that perhaps they were all loyalists.

“So, the deal with the Taliban. Should you have thought about it longer?”

He wasn’t surprised that it was Jay that jumped in to answer defensively. They pulled up to the conference before he could get a better answer out of her and he decided that maybe the way in was to get the Secretary alone.

As they climbed out, Blake rushed up, a phone in his hand, but he didn’t hand it over. “Spoke to Stevie, told her I will be cancelling all world crises for a few hours this evening so you can go home and eat. I couldn’t move a couple things, so it will be late, but I assured her I will make sure you’re properly fed during the day.” He walked as he talked, leading her into the building with one hand on her back. Once through the door, he took her coat.

“Green room and food is this way.” Jay took Blake’s spot at her side. “Kat’s got some concerns about the Mexico situation, so eat first before you do too much talking, please.”

Neal saw her shoot Jay a mildly irritated look, but she didn’t comment this time, instead letting herself be led to the right room. He wanted to ask questions, but held back, instead watching the way she worked the first room as the staff moved in different directions, leaving him to shadow her on his own. Once Amina finished speaking with the Secretary, Neal stopped her, all the while watching as the Secretary made her way to where Blake was directing her attention to someone else. He had the luxury, he realized, of a longer conversation, while it turned out all the staffers were prepping the next person who would be getting the Secretary’s attention.

“Neal.” Blake’s voice brought his attention back around as Amina walked away. “This way, we’re headed into the next room.” The assistant motioned for him to follow.

“To eat?” He cocked a brow at him.

Blake drew in a breath, eyes skipping to where his boss was walking ahead of them with Jay. “We can hope.”

It turned out, Blake’s definition of ‘a platter’ was a full table set up buffet style of food, enough that all the staff were able to take a pass and fill their plate. Neal filled his own as the Secretary spoke to him, aware of how the staff seemed to hover a bit. He started to answer a question only to be momentarily distracted as Blake walked by, plucking a brownie off his boss’s plate without comment. She only reacted for a split second before carrying on talking. They moved to a table and continued to talk only to be interrupted before they could even start eating by Jay and Kat rushing in. Neal watched the exchange, followed as they shared the rapidly devolving situation and then rushed away to make a call, she’d turned to him and swore she’d be right back and to eat while he had the chance.

The next person to join him was Blake, who frowned at the abandoned plate with a sigh. “Not even a bite.” He muttered with a shake of his head.

“She’ll be back she said.” He offered the assistant.

Blake gave a humorless laugh. “The moment passed. I’ll get it all boxed up for later, I’m used to it.” He seemed to wave it off.

He watched as Blake collected a few items and placed them aside as the others returned, discussions still in full swing about the immigration bill, together they made their way to the conference, which was about what he’d expected. The staff took up two rows at one end with the detail standing in the shadows to the side. Neal found himself in the second row between Daisy and Kat, with Matt on the inside, while the Secretary was ahead of them between Jay and Blake. It gave him time to watch the person he was there to write about, to see how much attention she paid to the other speakers.

When it was her turn to talk, Blake had been the one to usher her to the side of the stage and stood in the shadows and waited for her to finish. The rest of the time, both he and Jay had phones out, clearly still working, though Neal noticed that Blake had two phones in his hand, one black and one white, and he occasionally texted on both. When the white one would light up with an incoming message, he would tilt it to the side, Neal realized that it was so the Secretary could read what was written, before whispering a reply that Blake would type. It took a few times of that back and forth for Neal to realize that to someone further away, it gave the appearance that the Secretary was fully engaged in what was going on, she had no phone in her hands, wasn’t looking down at a screen, but she was clearly carrying on a text conversation with someone nonetheless.

Back in the motorcade headed back to the Truman building, it was Blake wedged in the middle of the back seat, even after the Secretary attempted to assure Daisy that she didn’t need to be protected from Neal. Once they pulled away, Blake didn’t hesitate to interrupt his boss starting to talk by holding a muffin directly in her line of sight.

“Eat. No talking.”

Her voice cut off, but she took the muffin. “I was just saying-” She tried again.

“Nothing.” Blake interrupted again. “You were saying nothing.”

She tried to ignore him again. “Jay can you-”

It was Jay who cut her off this time. “I can’t do anything, Ma’am, until you listen to Blake.”

Under her breath, Neal heard her mutter ‘I’m the one in charge here’, but she started eating anyway.

The rest of the day carried on much the same, Kat and Jay both clearly focused on the kids in Mexico, sometimes bursting into the office unannounced together, other times just one of them. Neal was surprised how often Daisy swirled in, ‘tablet of doom’ as the Secretary had called it, in her hand. From what he could see, Matt played a supporting role to all of them when he wasn’t needed to draft remarks, he clearly understood the various assignments he was given as they floated his way. And then, Neal watched, the ever-present Blake who rushed from task to task, generally ignoring everyone else. It was getting late when Blake strode in for the last time, opening what Neal guessed was a closet and produced a coat.

“Time to go.” He rounded the desk, reaching in front of his boss to shut two files as he leaned down to pull out a bag to put them in.

“I just need to finish-”

“Nope.” The chair moved back a bit; Neal surmised that Blake must’ve moved it with his foot. “You will not be late for dinner tonight.” His eyes ran over the desk before he grabbed a few other files and added them as well before closing the bag and picking it and a handbag up and setting them on the desk. “Up, up.”

She huffed but obeyed, letting him hold the coat so she could slip it on, trying to grab her own bags that Blake held out of reach. “Fine.” She turned to Neal. “Apparently, it’s time to go home, shall we?”

“Okay.” He followed the pair out, listening as Blake gave a rundown of what was going to be happening the following morning. He watched as Blake turned to the lockers again, retrieving a phone, but not handing it over right away.

“Stevie already knows you’re on your way, Henry will be home by the time you get there and I had a very enlightening conversation with Jason about the correct time and place to share his views.” Blake rattled off.

His last comment made the Secretary laugh. “Let me guess? His response was something about Big Brother trying to silence him?” She patted Blake’s arm. “I know you try.”

“The girls are so sweet.” He frowned, only making her chuckle more. When the elevator opened, he put his hand out to hold the door as she and Neal stepped in. “Have a good night, Ma’am. Neal. Enjoy dinner.”

The door shut and the elevator was silent for two floors before Neal turned to her. “Why did that last bit sound slightly ominous?”

His question made her laugh again. “Because Blake knows my family.”

Riding to Georgetown, Neal stared out the window, looking at the buildings and traffic. When he turned to ask a question, he was startled to find the Secretary was asleep.

==

Neal had been amused more than anything by the family at dinner. The kids clearly didn’t seem bothered to have him at the table, he wondered how often extra guests ended up joining them. They also didn’t seem bothered by the way their mother would sit at the table only for her phone to ring and she’d be gone again. He wasn’t a father just yet, but he wondered on the impact that had on all of them. He’d been focused more on the perks of how they all benefitted from her high position, a subject that was clearly touchy, but he hadn’t considered that Secretary of State was a job with no real set hours, no time to be able to step back and enjoy family. It all felt very average and normal inside the house, but he reminded himself, there were agents standing outside, making the family, or at least their mother, a near prisoner inside. Protected for the safety of the country.

As he was about to leave for the evening, he overheard Henry answer the phone as he was putting on his coat.

“Hey, Blake.” Henry’s voice filtered out from the office. There was a laugh and then- “Well, she ate more than I expected with Jay’s calls… Yeah, there were a few, I thought you knew?... Ah, well, what time will you need her in the morning… Okay. Night.”

Neal looked up when Henry reappeared. “I think I’m off then.”

“It was good to meet you.” Henry shook his hand. “You’re shadowing Elizabeth again tomorrow, right?”

“Yes.”

He shook the phone in his hand a bit. “Sounds like it will be a busy day.”

==

Neal was surprised how much easier the next morning it was to get through security and up to the seventh floor. This time it wasn’t Daisy who was waiting, but Matt with his easy grin. “Morning.”

“Meeting got called a bit early, figured you were already on your way in, so MSec said you could just catch up when you got here.”

He glanced at his watch, making Matt chuckle.

“Yeah, we kinda run flat out sometimes.” He led the way not to the conference room, but to the inner office where the senior staffers were scattered about talking.

“I want to go see him in person!” The Secretary was insisting.

“I think that’s a bad idea until we know his game plan.” Kat pushed back. “He clearly has an agenda.”

“When does he not?” She fired back. “He always has an agenda, everyone does. But I can’t work around it until I know what it is today.”

“His little show on TV this morning was telling.” Jay added. “He’s whole ‘immigrants, but’ platform hints of wanting something specific.”

“He’s trending and, unfortunately, he’s spinning all the right words to get support.” Daisy pointed at her tablet. Neal was starting to understand why the Secretary called it what she did, so far nothing positive had come out of it.

“Russell Jackson wants a word in his office, Ma’am.” Blake seemed to simply materialize, a cup of coffee and a bowl of what looked like fruit in his hands. “I can call over and schedule you in after you go to Senator Morejon’s office.” His statement earned him dirty looks from Jay and Kat.

The Secretary put up her hand before either could comment. “I’m going.” She turned to Blake. “Make sure he doesn’t leave before I get there. Excuse me.” She stepped through another door as the rest of the staff began to collect their things. Neal stayed in his spot on the couch and watched.

==

Leaving Morejon’s office, they met back up with the staff, minus Kat, who’d stayed behind this time to handle other things, and Blake, who simply was missing. Neal listened to them start to pepper the Secretary with questions as they all stepped out into the frigid air, Jay passing his boss a large shawl after she shrugged back into her coat.

“Where’s Blake?” She questioned as she took the shawl, glancing to her detail before they started walking.

“Oh, he decided you’d need a drink.” Jay gestured in a vague direction. “He’ll be just a minute.”

“Ah.” She then dove into what Morejon’s agenda was, the conversation Neal had missed because of Lisa. He was trying to work out how private prisons had anything at all to do with immigrant kids when Blake returned with a tray of hot drinks. “This never gets old.” She grinned as Blake passed her a drink first, a wide smile on her face.

He accepted his own, thankful to have the hot cup in his hands if only for the heat. When she pressed him about his conversation with Lisa, he shared, realizing how easy it was to talk to the staffers, even Blake seemed keen to hear a bit of gossip as they all took a small break from their day. Looking around, Neal noticed the easy camaraderie between them. Jay, Daisy, and Matt all stood close, even with the cold if they were just colleagues, he would have expected them to have more space between them. The Secretary, he already knew, was at ease with them all, much like he’d seen the night before at dinner and Blake, who was typing away on his phone again, stayed close to her side, occasionally looking around at their surroundings.

Once they’d had their moment to chuckle, it was Jay that shifted them back onto task and they all split up to head to the White House. This time, only Blake climbed in the car with them; Neal found himself commenting. “Did the others decide I’m safe enough now not to need the dogs kept on me?” He chuckled to himself.

The Secretary looked at him a moment and then twisted to meet Blake’s eye, mischief twinkling, before looking back to him. “I think you may find; this is actually an upgrade in security.” She chuckled. “Even they know they don’t hold a candle to Blake when it comes to defending me form the world.” Her voice rose slightly, and it took Neal a second to realize her next comment was aimed at one of the agents in the front seats. “What do you think, Frank? Is Blake the scariest member of my staff?”

There were chuckles form the front before the one in the passenger seat answered. “Mister Moran is very efficient at his job.”

She chuckled. “Sounds like the description of a mob hitman.”

“Your words, Ma’am.” Frank replied.

She snorted. “From Harvard to hitman.”

“I serve at the pleasure, Ma’am.” Came Blake’s response.

==

Russell Jackson was almost exactly what Neal expected him to be. It, to some extent, had been exactly what he’d expected the Secretary to be. Her staff had followed them clear to Russell’s door, Matt and Daisy simply taking a seat while Jay repeated again all the facts that they need Russell to hear. Blake simply rushed alongside, taking her coat and shawl as well as her cup with a quick reminder of how much time they had before they needed to be off again.

He’d forgotten that Stevie worked for Russell, her demeanor was still chilly, not that he was surprised, though he did wonder how the seemingly sweet daughter handled the brash and abrasive Chief of Staff every day. It seemed like a match made in hell.

The Secretary’s clear lines on right and wrong then began to show through as she met Russell’s argumentative nature, protecting the Senator that she was trying to take down, refusing to ruin his family for expediency. Neal sank back in his seat and listened as she demanded that Russell wouldn’t be using an oppo file to get the problem sorted out and it made him think about the oppo he’d been given the night before. She made a good point, everyone in Washington who got anything done had an oppo file of some sort. It was a bit like military rebalancing around the world, the presence kept everyone a bit more willing to work together. Russell clearly had no qualms about taking out the Senator, but the Secretary held to a different level of standards. He wondered how much Henry actually impacted his wife’s job instead of just the other way around.

They left the White House without a word, none of the staff asked questions though Blake held out the coat again so she could shrug back into it on the move before passing over a fresh hot cup, a banana in his hand still. “Decaf tea.” She pulled a face. “It’s still frigid outside.” He explained. “And you had the latte, so you don’t need the caffeine.” As she sipped, he draped the shawl over her shoulders and began peeling the banana, swapping it for the cup as they all climbed back in their vehicles.

“Where to next?” Jay finally asked once they were on the move.

“Find Haverfod yet?” She asked around a bite.

“Yes, but there’s a bit of a problem there.”

She twisted and raised a brow at him.

“He’s at lunch at the Swanson Club, Ma’am.”

She smirked. “Holed up in a private men’s club, huh? Well, this should be fun.” She traded the peel from her banana for the cup Blake passed over. “What do you say, Blake? Up for a look in the Swanson?”

“Wherever you wish to go, Ma’am.”

“To the Swanson Club, Frank.” Jay directed from the back seat.

==

By now, Neal didn’t even notice the routine. Matt, Jay and Daisy had been dropped back at the Truman, so it was only he and Blake who followed the Secretary in, he caught the way Blake was taking in everything about their surroundings as he took her shawl again. He made a mental note to ask later as it seemed more and more that Blake’s role was more as the Secretary’s body man with a cover as simply the receptionist.

As she pushed forward with Haverford, Neal realized she was using his presence as a way to press the CEO into a corner as well downplaying Blake so that the man would simply disregard him entirely. Which Neal figured was only helped by the visual impact of Blake standing there holding her things. He was suddenly almost subservient in a way Neal hadn’t seen so far and he wondered how often Blake did it.

Once the conversation was over, she led the way back out the door, her face straight until they reached the sidewalk where a grin blossomed as she whirled around to face Blake, patting him with one hand as she took the shawl with the other. “How’d he take it?”

“I think he’ll fall into line, Ma’am.” Blake nodded. “And your presence got just enough eavesdroppers to listen in to add to the pressure.”

“Oh, darn.” She drew in a breath and mock sighed. “Well, I’ve heard that private clubs are all about secrecy.” She shrugged as they all climbed into the motorcade. “You really want to be a member of a place like that?”

Blake seemed to suddenly hesitate. “Ac-cording to my family, I should be?”

She hummed. “Could be great for work connections… On the other hand, your relationship to me could mean you’d be hounded every time you step foot inside.”

“They find me at the coffee shop, Ma’am. At least at a place like that the drinks are better quality.”

That brought out a bark of laughter. “Well… if you ever want in, just say the word.”

“Of course, Ma’am.”

“Henry got a reminder of the essay thing tonight?”

“I messaged him while you were with Russell. I also mentioned it to Stevie since, you know, we were right there.”

“Good. Good.”

“I have your remarks for the essay contest when you are ready. And if we don’t hit too much traffic, we’ll make it in time for pizza.”

“Yes, now you are talking.”

“And if we hit traffic, I’ll place another order.” He finished.

“Not necessary, Blake.”

“I told Henry I was handling dinner tonight, so yes, necessary.”

Neal had only been half listening as they bantered, still rolling the conversation at the Club over in his mind. When it seemed they were done talking, he let his frustration with what had happened lose, he didn’t really care at this point about crossing a line. A small part of him was surprised that this time Blake didn’t cut him off and the Secretary didn’t try and offer more than a token defense once he’d wound down. As the cabin of the SUV slipped back into silence, Neal wondered what he’d missed to make her not stand up for her own actions.

==

It turned out; the essay thing had been a far swing from anything else Neal had witnessed over the past two days. Walking back onto the seventh floor and seeing all those families had made the Secretary’s face light up perhaps even more that seeing her family the night before had. While she headed straight into the mix, Neal caught Blake dutifully taking her things away and then touching base with Matt before walking his way. “You’ll be behind her with Matt and I when she gives her remarks. There’s leftover pizza in the next room, if your hungry.” He turned as the Secretary joined them. “Turns out Matt already put aside a pizza and a box of breadsticks in the breakroom.”

“Oh.” She looked around for her speechwriter. “Make sure I thank him.”

“Of course. It is time now though for you to give your remarks.”

“Sure.”

After the speech was over, junior staffers began to see the families out as Neal spotted Blake at the far end of the room leading his boss through a door. Weaving through the crowd, Neal eventually followed, locating Blake near his desk.

“She’s in her office, I’m headed to the breakroom for her food. She wanted to see you again before you left though, so you can go on through, but keep it quick.”

“Yeah, okay.” He stepped into the inner office. The Secretary was leaned back in her chair, glasses on her desk and eyes shut.

“So, how bad was it, Neal?”

He startled, surprised she even knew he was there. Her eyes slowly opened, and she gave a lopsided smile.

“I know what Blake’s walk sounds like, especially if he’s about to try and feed me.” She offered as an explanation. “So?”

“I honestly have no idea yet.” He watched her nod and then straighten up a moment before Blake rounded the corner with plates in his hand. He passed Neal one.

“You can sit in the conference room and eat.”

Neal took it as the dismissal Blake intended it to be, listening faintly to Blake already talking to his boss as he left.

==

“Can I get you anything?”

Neal’s head snapped up to find Blake studying him. A glance at his watch told him it was quite late, and he’d been siting there a while. “No, I should be going.” He stood and started to gather his things. “You know, when I did my research, I thought she was this unmanaged public figure… a rule breaker, but…” He wasn’t sure how to put it in a way that would upset Blake. “I thought this was going to be an article slanted to make her look good for a presidential run, this strong and powerful woman. Don’t get me wrong, I can see that in her. I wasn’t expecting to not be strong-armed into the slant.”

“That’s not her style.”

“She inspires loyalty.”

“That she does.”

“Well, I’ll email you an advance copy of the article before I send it to my publisher.”

“I appreciate that.”

Neal stepped up to Blake and put out his hand. “I promise to do my best. This was not anything like I expected it to be.”


	61. Intervention

“Hey, Blake, I have a question.” Kat fell into step beside him. “Just how bad of an idea is it that POTUS dumped dealing with Andrada in State’s lap?”

“Well, that depends on exactly who is dealing with what. We have an interim ambassador over there and their people aren’t all that bad.”

“Okay. But I know there’s a history between MSec and the President.”

Blake scoffed. “That’s one way to spin it. We have a lot of channels to work through, I doubt it will be an issue, but if they need to SVTC it’ll probably be okay…ish.”

“Ish?”

He glanced around to be sure there was no one else within earshot. “She can’t break his nose over webcam.”

Kat’s brows went up. “No. I supposed she can’t. She broke his nose?”

“Russell used the after picture as his wallpaper for two months after it happened.”

She rocked back on her heels. “Wow. Now I know why she wasn’t bothered about me flipping a table. What, uh, what precipitated that?”

“Officially, we don’t know. It was a private meeting with no witnesses. The senior staff knows unofficially, as does the White House, but it’s one of those things that isn’t a thing.”

“And what do you know unofficially?”

“He assaulted her.” He huffed. “She and I had gone to Manila to negotiate something, it was… I still have a lot of mixed feelings about that trip.” He turned to face her fully. “The rest of us generally try to back channel and keep the Philippines off her desk, I should have Jay call over and see what the hell Russell was thinking to take this from DoD and make it our problem. I know they talked once just after the incident, but for the most part I don’t really know how he’d take being pushed by her on a new issue.”

“I doubt she’s afraid to stand up to him.”

“No. Nadine and Daisy tried to get her to go public to bring Andrada to heel, but it seems she’s playing the long game on that one.”

Understanding crossed her face. “She’s using the truth as leverage. Wow, interesting angle.” She shoved her hands in her pockets. “So, SVTC calls?”

“I doubt they would do much good, but it would probably be best for her not to be alone. He definitely isn’t afraid to press her buttons.”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that.”

==

Blake looked up from where he was placing lunch on the coffee table as Elizabeth and Russell burst in, arguing as usual. From the doorway, Jay and Kat were waving him over. “What?” He whispered.

“It’s worse that the SVTC call.” Kat started. “The call wasn’t bad, but now she’s planning to fly to Manila.”

“What?!” He winced at his volume. “Sorry.”

“We tried to talk her out of it. She’s planning to go like, now.” Jay joined in. “She doesn’t think it warrants any of us traveling with her.”

“Is she insane?” Blake looked between them and started to comment further, but Russell’s voice caught his attention.

_“Not okay. Diplomacy at a distance is one thing, but the last time-”_

_“The next person who brings up Andrada’s nose, I’m gonna punch them in the face!”_ Elizabeth snapped. The trio exchanged a frown.

_“I’m saying, you’re not exactly the poster child for détente here!”_ Russell shot back.

Blake raised a hand, considering. “Maybe he’ll talk her out of it?”

Jay and Kat both scoffed.

“We have a crisis! A major, world altering crisis.” Daisy was full on running, Matt in her wake. “Look.” She passed over her tablet. “This can’t be happening, like, she can’t respond to this. She’s going to want to defend them, protect her family, and we literally can’t let her breathe a word.” She sighed. “Especially if…”

“If she’s planning on doing the thing we aren’t talking about.” Matt clarified.

Blake stared at the article. “We need to do an intervention before she gets on that plane.”

“Plane?” Daisy asked.

“Oh, she’s about to fly to Manila and see Andrada in person.” Kat supplied.

“This keeps getting worse.” Matt shook his head. “She sees this article and then deals with him? This is insanity!” He tossed his arms out.

Blake looked around at them. “We’ll all go in. All of us, together. She won’t be able to do that thing where she tries to make you feel three inches tall if we all go.”

“Blake’s right, we have to be a united front. We know that if the thing we don’t talk about happens, articles like this will only get more common, we need to be united and firm in our response, both in managing how she hears it and how it’s handled. How she’s handled.” Jay started to turn. “Now or never, let’s see how this goes.” He led them into the inner office, passing Russell on his way out. A bit of an ambush would catch her off guard.

“Whatever it is, I gotta pack, so if it can wait-”

“It can’t.” Jay cut off, moving right to the desk.

Blake rounded the desk quickly, knowing she wouldn’t comment on him being in her personal space as he began typing on the computer.

“This is an intervention.” Jay carried on.

“The important thing to do is to keep centered and calm.” Matt tried to reassure. Blake wondered if he was as worried as the rest of them about what was coming next, surely as the one in closest physical proximity, it should be himself who would be the most worried.

“About what?” She was looking at them like they were all crazy, Blake guessed she thought this was about the ridiculous trip that they were all, including Russell Jackson apparently, against her taking.

“Ma’am.” He began, nervous now that he was the one who had to stand at her side for this. He watched her face as she read the screen; the others were anxiously shifting where they stood. He’d watched the family go through a lot already with this job, this kind of escalation seemed crazy but Jay’d had a point, if natural progression took place, they would be staring at a lot more articles like this in the future.

“We know your first instinct is to publicly respond.” Daisy hesitantly started. “We are all here to urge you to not do that.”

Blake kept his eyes on their boss as she looked from the screen to Daisy. “I’m not going to publicly respond.” Her voice was even. Too even. It worried him. “It would be beneath the administration to attack a private business.”

Glancing at the others, he saw they were all as unnerved by her calm. “Well put, Ma’am.” Matt replied. “Well put.”

The room went quiet, Blake wasn’t sure whether they should be relieved or locking the doors. For the first time in his tenure, he had no idea what she was thinking or feeling, it left him feeling off kilter.

“I’m going to ignore it.”

Everyone responded in support of that idea, all of them quiet and trying to cling to that calm as she collected her bags and walked out. There was a collective sigh as they watched her vanish.

“Did that work?” He asked.

“I don’t know.” Matt shrugged. “I can’t read that lady.”

“Yeah, me neither.” Daisy agreed. “She’s either chill-”

“Or she’s gonna kill someone.” Kat finished as they all turned back to where he stood behind the desk.

“What?” He stared back at them.

“You know, we may have just lit a fuse and now she’s headed to Andrada.” Jay pointed out. “How pissed do you think she would be if we forced her to allow one of us to go as well?”

“Are you volunteering?” Matt asked. “Because this is way out of my area of expertise.”

“It shouldn’t be so bad this time? I mean, now she knows not trust him and the detail aren’t going to leave her unsupervised.” Daisy pointed out. “We’ll just… make contingencies in the schedule for after. I mean, it’s one thing to have on your game face when dealing with someone like him, but there’ll be aftereffects when she gets back.”

“And have a statement planned for if something blows up with the restaurant thing.” Jay directed. “We’ve made it this far; we can get through this too.”


	62. Blue Protocols

Blake looked up in anticipation when Jay seemingly materialized in the doorway of the conference room where he'd spread out to work.

"How...Wow, that's a…" He shook himself away from the mountains of folders. "How much longer do you think this will take you?"

"Uhh. Two hours. Do you need me?"

"I need to talk, not a big rush and not totally work related. More like work _adjacent_." Jay glanced down the hall. "Whenever you are free."

"Sure." He only paused long enough to watch Jay nod and seem to shore himself off before walking away. Curious, he knuckled down to beat that two hour time.

Blake stepped into Jay's doorway and knocked on the glass an hour and a half later.

“Come in and shut the door. Have a seat." Jay moved to a chair across from the couch. "I'm going to just jump in. Matt came to me earlier, he'd been through the office and there was a Blue problem and he said Nina didn't even seem to notice." Blake was already moving to stand and Jay put his hand out. "Matt dealt with it. It's good now. But he asked me if we are going to read Nina in on Blue Protocols."

He sank back in his seat, considering. "Only five people have ever been read in, Kat isn't even read in."

"True."

"What do you think?"

Jay pulled in a deep breath through his nose. "I think we should be looking at the future, if something like that ever got out." He shrugged.

"I'm not sure Nina should be read in, but we should discuss Kat. She's an ally." He finally asked. "How bad was it?"

"Matt said it was only Protocol One, which, as you know, leads to others fairly quickly. He was worried because now that isn't your role. He was worried about walking away."

"I could…Technically the Blue Protocols weren't part of my job, they were this." He gestured to the two of them shut in the office together. "And this hasn't changed."

He waited, letting Jay study him before speaking. "Is this why you shot down so many other job choices?"

"No!" He insisted with a short laugh. 

"Blake."

He ignored the question. "We should have a vote." He watched Jay leave to get Matt and Daisy, returning only minutes later with both.

"So, what's this about?" Daisy jumped right in.

"Blue Protocols." Jay supplied. "Blake and I were talking. The idea is to read Kat in, but not Nina and I want your thoughts."

"Well, Nina is great and all, but she's had massive shoes to fill. I'm not sure she can add that as well."

Matt finally jumped in. "There's four of us, five if we read in Kat. Do we need Nina?" He looked at the other three. 

"So, none of us have faith in Nina." Jay sighed. "Okay. What about Kat?"

"She understands discretion." Blake tossed out. "And she's fully loyal, she wouldn't abuse it." He tipped his head side to side. "I think she would rise and help."

"Having another woman read in would be nice, you know, for those times we get to Protocols eight or eleven." 

"And it would be one more set of eyes on the inside." Matt paused. "Is it telling that Blake has always been part of the in-group and Nina… isn't?"

"We already agreed on Nina." Jay tried to keep them on track. "Kat's back from her trip, the schedule is clear for a half hour, should we do a read in now?"

"Can we do it in a half hour?" Blake wondered out loud. "Yeah, we can always finish up tonight." He answered Jay, looking up to the others for agreement.

"Okay. I will go get Kat."

==

The trio were still comfortably seated in Jay's office when he returned with Kat. "Have a seat, we need to cover a lot really quickly. All of this is classified and none of it in print. Not even hard copy."

She looked around the room. "O-okay."

"In this office, we have something called Blue Protocols. Only the people sitting here plus two other people know about them, they can never get out. Ever." Jay emphasized. "We need you to agree to full compliance with that before you can hear the details."

She took in the serious looks on their faces. These were her friends, the people who essentially ran State. "I'm good with that."

"Good." Jay let out a breath. "Off the record, MSec has suffered PTSD after an incident a number of years ago. From that point on, she has been prone to anxiety attacks and a host of other symptoms. Which we manage with something we dubbed the Blue Protocols."

"Blue?"

Jay half-smiled. "DS code named her Bluebird, at the time it made sense to keep with that, so we understood the urgency. Blake used to manage a lot of it, but now he's spread his wings and we all have to step up. We took a vote, which is why you're here."

"What about Nina?"

"We're not reading her in." Daisy shook her head.

"Oh. Okay."

"There are a few, we won't get to all of them right now, but we can finish this tonight."

"I have Desi."

"And I have Chloe."

"Bring them, come to my place." Daisy offered. "It'll keep Joanna distracted too."

"So." Blake redirected. "Protocol One. Low blood sugar quickly tanks her reserves, food is always a bit of a fight. There's parts to this one- make sure she eats; then, dealing with when she hasn't eaten."

Kat studied him. "Suddenly, you being you makes sense."

"The first part of this one Blake actually laid out, along with my predecessor. We have a schedule, unofficially, for meal times. It follows her, us, wherever she travels." Jay supplied. "The detail aren't officially aware, but if you're out and you tell them to stop for food, they will."

"Make sure she eats. Got it."

"And keep an eye on what it is." Blake added. "She will go for carbs and sugar when she needs protein."

"Again." Kat grinned and shook her head. "Things I've seen you do now make sense."

"If she doesn't eat, it's a pretty fast slide into slowed thinking, dizziness, and so on.” Daisy listed off. “If she’s already worried or upset about something else. It will simply increase how fast she hits a panic attack. And the Secretary of State can never be seen off her game.”

“Especially with a presidential run coming.” She lifted her hands when they are looked at her like she suddenly grew an extra head. “What? You can’t see that over the horizon? So, how do we all manage this then?”

“I used to schedule in a lunch meeting with someone when I knew things were starting to build up. Even if it was one of us and in the office. Another easy play if she’s already getting overwhelmed is to call in reinforcements.” She raised a brow at him, and he carried on. “Henry will come by for lunch anytime we reach out.”

“Interesting.”

“Protocol Two is a bit less a thing to do, and more a thing to anticipate.” Matt moved on. “Unexpected loud noises are a problem. It’s a trigger. Obviously there’s not a lot we can do to prevent it, but she will try and cover how much it rattles her so whoever is there has to remember to get her somewhere where she can have a minute.”

“Russell Jackson counts as an unexpected loud noise, by the way.” Blake tacked on.

Jay checked his watch. “We need to get back to work before MSec wanders through to see where we’ve gone. But there is one other Protocol we can touch on really quick.”

“Four?” Daisy asked, Jay nodded. “Yeah. Four is a biggie.”

“What’s four?”

“There are certain people we have to interact with that she really shouldn’t be alone with.” Daisy continued. “There is a hard copy list of names, off site. With Blake no longer as the gatekeeper of the schedule, they might come up.”

“Nina still sits down every morning with me for the daily brief.” Jay shared. “On a rolling basis, that would give me the chance to manage some of the in-person meetings. Phone calls are a bit harder.”

“We can justify our presence though, right?” Kat queried. She had noticed that the inner office wasn’t actually all that private from the comings and goings of the few seated wither now.

“As her Chief of Staff, it’s not weird for me to simply be present for calls, though logistically it’s not always possible. You and Blake, as the policy guys, have certain freedom as well. I mean, it would look odd if all of us piled into the office for everything, but if we planned out our days right, we would get good coverage.”

==

Kat looked around Daisy’s home. “Nice place.”

“Thanks.” She gestured to the table. “There are two Protocols I wanted to talk to you about, just you and me, before the guys get here. They know I’m telling you, it’s just…” She huffed. “Protocol Eight is for when MSec has gotten so overwhelmed that she can’t pretend anymore; her emotions start to run the show. She won’t cry in front of the guys, well, Blake she will once she’s really reached her limit, but not Matt or Jay. She would barely cry in front of Nadine.”

“She’s cried in front of you?”

“Not full on, but the Protocol is about allowing her to not have an audience at all. Around the office it’s as simple as making an excuse for her to need to leave the room she’s in. If we’re in the conference room or something, she’ll flee to her bathroom; you simply follow and make sure no one comes through her office. If the problem is in her office, that’s a little more tricky.”

“No witnesses, got it.”

“On the plane, we just allow her space. It’s gets a bit crowded and if she tucks herself away, we respect that. Overseas it’s much like around the office, be aware and make sure to manage the room.” She inhaled. “Protocol Eleven is a bit…different.”

“How many of these are there?”

“Eleven. We only add something if we all vote it needs added. Look. MSec doesn’t even know about this.”

“Wait… Then who’s the other person? I know Jay’s predecessor, Nadine? She was part of it, I thought MSec was as well.”

“No. Her husband knows they exist. He doesn’t know the details though.” Daisy straightened. “Protocol Eleven totally removes the guys from the picture. It’s a crisis plan.” Kat watched the apprehension on her face. “I am sure you are aware, as a woman, that some men are never to be trusted. It’s disgusting, but we always have to be aware of our surroundings or things can happen. Bad things.”

It took Kat a second. “Wait, are you talking about…” She wasn’t sure how to finish.

Daisy nodded grimly. “If a Protocol Eleven ever comes up, we don’t talk about it, even amongst ourselves. The focus is on the one person who is available assessing the extent of the trauma, determining a plan for healing, and then we all work on circling the wagons. If you or I are the ones on hand, we simply give the others a heads up that Protocol Eleven is running and then deal with it. If it’s one of the guys, then you or I have to find a way to take over.”

“I get it. I’m a little thrown that you’re telling me this after you just said Protocols only get added for a reason.” She thought about the implications of that. “Wow.”

“Look. I know this is a lot. For the rest of us, the Blue Protocols have just been a part of our every day for so many years that we don’t really ever even think about it.” She attempted a smile. “But you were right today, with a presidential run on the horizon, it’s more important than ever that the Protocols work like a well-oiled machine. When it first came up seriously, she fell straight into a panic attack, now it can be alluded to without totally freaking her out.”

Kat started to reply, but the sounds of the others arriving cut her off. It was time to be read in on everything else she needed to know.


	63. Panic

Blake was folding laundry when his phone rang. He looked at the screen and then answered. “Hey, Henry. What’s up?”

The older man sighed. “I only have a minute. I don’t know what you know about the last couple days.”

He stilled, dropping the shirt in his hands onto the bed. “I- I heard rumors. A friend at the Pentagon said there was something about a nuclear evacuation, another rumor was it was a drill. Of course, nothing official because I don’t rate that high up the information chain despite being… _me_.” He heard Henry chuckle a bit. “I’m sorry. I went out to drinks last night with the others and it got a bit tense and then Elizabeth went to the Caymans today with no explanation for an OTR meeting with Avdonin. I know something is happening, or has happened, and I know I’m not read in. And I can guess you are, which makes me wonder about this call because you know more than I do.”

“You’re right. I have to skip all the classified stuff which, unfortunately, is about all of it. I do have a bit I need to read you in on though.” He paused. “Yesterday we were out as a family and…classified things happened.”

“Would this have been at about the same time of day there were reports of Marine One whisking away officials and returning them?”

There was another pause, Blake took the silence as confirmation, then Henry continued. “After those things happened, Elizabeth had a panic attack, it was… one of the worst ones I’ve seen in years. Tonight, she started to have another one, not as extreme, but still… I wanted you to know so you can keep an eye out for a while.”

“I understand.”

“There’s some things the White House is trying to take on and there are some fights ahead, buttons will be pressed.”

“Buttons like SecDef in her office yelling?”

“Yeah, like that.”

He huffed, sitting on his bed, shoving the clothes basket to the side. “And running for president isn’t going to make it any easier for a while.”

“She, uh, said something?” There was surprise filling his voice.

“Not in so many words. But Mike B has been hanging around more and he’s on it regularly, plus Russell and POTUS have made comments. Look, I’m not asking, she’ll announce when she’s ready. But I’m already making plans to quit state when she does, Henry.”

“What? Why? You love your new position.”

“I do. But she’ll need me on the campaign trail and then after she wins. I talked to Jay and right now the plan is he wants to stay on as chief of staff, that’s always been his dream to get to the White House and there’ll be a lot of need, according to him, for me in several different roles.”

“And if she doesn’t win?”

“Well, I’ll have marketable skills.” Blake scoffed. “I’m not in charge of the official schedule anymore, but I’ll call Jay and give him the heads up, he can keep the schedule light and we’ll all keep an eye on her.”

“Thank Blake.”


	64. Ball

Blake led Trevor through the throng of partiers until they reached his target. “Henry.”

Henry greeted them with a wide grin. “Well, boys, we made it.” It was the night of the inaugural ball. “Now the real work begins.”

They both raised their glasses to that. Blake glanced around the room. “Aren’t you missing someone?”

He chuckled. “She’s dancing with Jason.”

Looking out onto the dance floor, Blake spotted mother and son laughing as they danced. “I still can’t believe he’s in college.” He glanced to Henry. “He’s a young man now.”

“I know. It seems like only yesterday he was railing against all forms of government.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t?” His response made Henry laugh. “Well, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll go try and cut in and get a dance.”

“Go for it, Trevor and I will try and not cause any global crises over here.” He turned to Trevor. “We’ll save those for down the road.”

Trevor, who’d been watching the exchange, finally spoke up. “Until after everyone has settled in, right.” He watched his fiancée set down his empty glass and wind his way through the dancers. “It’s hard to believe it’s all over. The campaign I mean.”

“I think that was one of the hardest years in a long time. So, now that Blake’s in DC full time, when are you two setting a date?”

He grinned, shaking his head. “We’re still debating that. We’ve looked at venues and caterers though.”

“Good, don’t wait too long, Elizabeth will start pushing it come Monday. She is ready for weddings and grandkids.” He squeezed Trevor’s shoulder. “Stevie’s been getting the same questions too, so don’t feel too stressed about it. I think the idea of an empty nest scares her a bit.”

“We’ll have to see about the kids down the road once Blake has a stable schedule.”

“You know he’ll never have a nine to five life while they’re in the White House, right? There’s a lot less travel, but it’s still crazy hours.”

He sighed. “I know. He’s still pretty cagey about his work, but I’ve started accepting that life with someone with his clearance level means there are things I can’t know.” Trevor looked out at the dance floor, his eyes landing on where Blake was dancing with Elizabeth. “But you get that, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do.”

“They dance together often?”

The topic shift made Henry blink. “What?”

“I know before, with State, there were tons of these events. They’re comfortable out there.”

“Yes. I couldn’t always attend every event, or I had my own networking to do.” One song shifted into the next. “They both like to dance, but it doesn’t have to be with each other.” He placed his empty glass down, motioning for Trevor to do the same. “Let’s go get a dance of our own.” He led the way to where the pair were on the floor.

Trevor grinned as Blake passed Elizabeth to Henry and took his own arms. “What has you grinning like that?” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Blake grin so wide.

“Oh, we do this thing when we dance at these events.” His eyes scanned the room before finding Trevor’s. “We know pretty much everyone in attendance on some level and there’s always a fresh scandal or a gaudy dress or someone who has hit an extra glass of champagne.”

“You gossip?” He arched a brow.

“Look. See the woman there in the dress with the floral embroidery? At an event two years ago, she was spotted by a trustworthy source in the arms of one of her staff.” He smirked. “Not the same staffer she was spotted with maybe four months before.” He watched Trevor’s jaw drop open slightly. “Her husband is really passive; I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say a word for himself. But now she’s suddenly lost a bunch of weight so quickly that she must’ve had surgery and that man with her tonight is not her husband and is neither staffer.”

“Wow.”

“That’s pretty tame actually.”

“Secret lives of the rich and powerful.”

“Something like that.”

Trevor opened his mouth to ask a question but was interrupted by Henry appearing at their side. “Time to swap partners. Blake and I will go look for the dessert carts.” Almost instantly, Trevor found himself dancing with Elizabeth as the other two vanished into the crowd.

“Blake said you were a good dancer.”

“I- I guess? Ma’am?”

She tossed her head back with a short laugh. “Please, Trevor, you get to call me Elizabeth. You’ll be family soon enough.”

“So not Madam President?”

“No.” He watched her eyes dart around the room. “How are you enjoying your first White House event?”

“It’s been good.”

“I’m glad. You’ll get a little more comfortable with them as time goes on.”

“May I cut in?” A thickly-accented voice surprised both of them. “I wish to congratulate you, Madam President, on your election.”

Trevor moved to pull away but realized Elizabeth hadn’t let go of his arms.

“I wasn’t aware you were making the time to come to this event.”

The man stepped closer. “I couldn’t have passed up such an opportunity. I saw your husband and your assistant step away and thought it the perfect opportunity to come share my support of your win.”

“Perhaps later.”

Another step closer. “So you would have the opportunity to be whisked away before we got our dance?” Trevor saw the man’s face harden. “Surely in your new position you would not stoop to such rude antics.”

He heard her exhale and then watched her lift her chin a bit, determination flashing in her eyes. She leaned in for a second close to his ear. “Find them.” She whispered softly before turning loose and offering her hand to the man without another look back.

Trevor watched them for a moment. After seeing her dance with both Blake and Henry, he could tell she wasn’t happy with whoever this person was. Turning away, he headed straight for the door to the kitchen and let himself in, finding both men standing by a cart. “You guys need to go out there.”

“What?” They both asked, surprised to see Trevor.

“A guy came up and asked her to dance, I don’t know who he is, but she clearly knows him. And didn’t want to dance with him.” As he spoke, Blake was already moving to the window in the swinging door.

“How’d he get a ticket?” Trevor heard him say before rushing out, Henry on his heels. Stepping out as well, he waited, unsure if he needed to do anything. The pair closed in on the dance floor and from his spot, he could see the moment Elizabeth saw them coming as she smiled, relieved. Henry stepped up behind her while Blake began addressing the man, who was frowning again. He would have thought there would be some sort of scene, but quietly, the four split apart and Henry was leading Elizabeth toward where he was standing by the kitchen door. She went in, but he didn’t follow right away, glancing back at where Blake was escorting the man out.

“Who was that?”

Henry just shook his head. “It’s a long explanation and tonight isn’t the night for it.” He clapped his shoulder. “Welcome to the club.”


	65. Boss

Blake rushed through the halls, determination and end goals filling his mind. He, they, had only been in the White House a little over a month, he was still getting his legs under himself in his new role. Everyone had been keeping weird hours. It had been a call from Nadine that had made him see the light.

Elizabeth had kept in touch with the former chief of staff, Blake was well aware. Often his own conversations with Nadine were limited to greetings before passing the phone over. Her last call though had been for him.

_“You’re dropping the ball on your job, Blake.”_ She’d dove right in. _“I was on with Elizabeth last night and I could hear it in her voice.”_

_“What job?”_ He’d asked.

_“The one you started with.”_ She’d huffed and he could imagine the look that crossed her face, the one that always read like an exasperated parent. _“You didn’t come to Washington to answer phones or file paperwork, Blake, you came to take care of your boss. You ate, slept, and breathed keeping her going forward alongside Henry and now you’re dropping the ball.”_

Her admonishment had thrown him. The roles had changed now, hadn’t they? _“I don’t understand.”_

_“You oversaw when and what she ate, a good two thirds of it, do you think that chef who’s known her a few weeks has the kind of knowledge you do? Look. I’ve asked around, I know she’s a wonderful woman and a skilled chef, but I highly doubt she’s willing to make things Elizabeth wants to eat after a long stressful day.”_

_“So…I sneak food in?”_

_“Or at least talk to the chef, time to grow a pair Blake and let the staff on Pennsylvania Ave know what the staff in the Truman learned, who is really in charge.”_ He’d heard her chuckle. _“And that leads to my next point. You were the point man, the filter between home and work for her. Now she quite literally lives at the office. Time to put Mike B in his place for good and be the gatekeeper again.”_

_“I- I can do that.”_ He’d frowned. He wasn’t sure how, but he could do that.

_“And then there’s my last issue and you’re not going to like it, but Henry and Elizabeth will both appreciate it. Talk to secret service about their, uh, positions during off hours when the McCords are on their own. It’s one thing to know the entire world knows you’re happily married, it’s entirely another to know they’re present for the show.”_

He’s felt himself flush with embarrassment. _“Must’ve been some conversation.”_

_“There may have been copious amounts of wine involved.”_ She’d laughed.

He’d gotten over the embarrassment almost as soon as the call had ended and had sat distracted for the rest of the day considering Nadine’s observations. As he realized she’d made good points, impressive from the other side of the country, he checked over the schedule to see when he could slip away and then made a plan.

The plan was how he was now letting himself into the kitchen downstairs. The head chef was a keen-eyed woman in her forties, years ago she might have been the type to make him nervous, but those days were long over. Nadine had been right, he’d realized, he’d gained a reputation before of being a guy who people didn’t mess with anymore, now he hoped it would work again. “Kelly.” He called out to her.

She turned and eyed him. “Mister Moran. What can I do for you?”

“We need to make some changes to the meals being provided for the McCords.” He kept his face blank. “I also have a list of things I want kept stocked down here for late-night snacks.” She started to object, but he put his hand up. “I appreciate your extensive skills, but we need to work together here. Your job may be to feed POTUS, but my job is to manage her.” He held up a folder in his hands. “These are some meals I want to hear are in rotation as well as things to be kept on hand. I also need a plan for me being able to bring in outside food from time to time.”

==

By the time Blake found his way back to his desk, he’d managed to check everything off his list plus add one new thing after running into Stevie in the hall. Mike B hadn’t been too impressed with being told to stick to his job, the one he had now, and respect Elizabeth’s privacy, but Blake had anticipated that after their arguments on the campaign trail. Somewhere along the line, their relationship had landed squarely in functionally adversarial; a descriptor that had also been appropriate to Mike’s predecessor as well.

The talk with secret service had been about as embarrassing, though, as he’d expected.

The next day when he looked up from his desk to see Elizabeth striding into the Oval Office from the far door, he caught the smile on her face. Standing, he entered the room with the day’s files, pushing the door that separated their office closed. Occasionally they discussed issues at hand, and it would do no good for a passerby to overhead something classified. “Good morning, Ma’am.” He greeted. “You look particularly cheerful this morning.”

She laughed, her eyes dancing. “Kelly sent up banana pancakes and bacon this morning, can you believe that?”

He schooled his features. “Really? What a nice treat.” He busied himself with his usual tasks.

She sank into her chair and sighed. “Yeah, and I got to eat them uninterrupted. I finally had to call Mike B and ask him about updates; he’ll be in in a bit.” She turned her chair to face out the windows. “Blake.”

He glanced up at the back of the chair. “Ma’am?”

The room was quiet a moment before she turned back, a knowing smile playing at her lips as her eyes twinkled. “Thank you.”

He opened his mouth to ask ‘for what’ but there was a flicker of awareness in her gaze, so instead he huffed, ducking his head a moment. His eyes flicked to the closed doors, remembering one of her own laments after the votes had come in last fall. “You’re always welcome, Elizabeth.” He gave her a soft smile before straightening and lifting his chin, the smile nearly vanishing. “I serve at the pleasure, Madam President.” Ending the more personal moment with a shift to professional.

She also straightened, pulling open the first file. “Let’s see what today has in store for us, shall we?”


	66. Sharing

Blake leaned against the door. They’d just gotten back from the west coast and he had one night with Trevor before he had to rejoin the campaign. After some talking, he’d quietly gotten Stevie to keep quiet for the moment. “Trevor?” He called, finally making his way through the apartment. “I know it’s late, but there’s one other thing we have to do.”

Trevor took a seat on the couch. “What’s that?”

He debated a minute. Trevor’d now met Stevie, but Blake had never really explained his job at State beyond the basic facts. Had only explained the campaign trail a bit beyond that. “We need to make one more stop to announce to parents.”

“What do you mean?” They’d video called Trevor’s parents from the vineyard.

Blake took a seat beside him. “I wasn’t entirely honest, no, honest isn’t the right word… detailed? About my job at State.” He drew a breath. “I was more than just the assistant to the secretary, more than even what Nadine told you years ago. Elizabeth and Henry and their kids are my family. When I told you Stevie was practically my sister, that wasn’t much of an exaggeration. There have been times their home has been more of a home than this one.”

“What does that have to do with your job?”

“Elizabeth and I have always maintained this weird relationship that ran somewhere between friends and mother and son, but my job was to be Henry’s stand-in for any event he couldn’t attend but she shouldn’t be alone.” He sighed. “He’s like a father and a really close friend. I have a better relationship with them than my own family, if you can believe that.”

Trevor chuckled. “I know you were really stressed when we were with them.”

“Yeah. They’re awesome, but… For some reason they just… I guess maybe it feels like they’re pushy. I don’t know. It’s always been weird. Anyway, Elizabeth and I have been through things over the years that were… hard. Like, things I could still have nightmares about if I thought too much about it. Before they find out from someone else, I want to tell them in person about us.”

“Sure. Wait, you mean now?”

Blake smiled. “I’m headed back on the road tomorrow, I want to be able to introduce you properly.”

Trevor was already standing again. “Let’s go then.”

==

They walked up to the door; the agent posted there simply nodded to Blake. He let himself in.

“You just go in?” Trevor whispered.

He smiled. “Yeah. Come on.” He shut the door behind Trevor and followed the sounds of chatter toward the kitchen. “Hey guys!”

The room seemed to erupt in greetings as all the McCords drew them further in. It was Henry who inquired about the guest. “Who’s your friend?”

Blake felt himself blush slightly. If he’d been a bit nervous the first time, he was super nervous now. His sexuality had never been an issue in this house. “He’s the reason I came by.” He took Trevor’s hand again. “This is my fiancé, Trevor.” The room erupted again; Blake laughed as the girls dove right in to wedding questions while Jason smiled as he made a comment about being sucked in. Eventually, Henry pushed the kids up the stairs, stopping in the pantry for a fresh bottle of wine on his way back.

Finally free of Stevie and Ali, Blake turned to Elizabeth as she pulled him in to a tight hug.

“I’m so happy for you.” She gushed. “I know you’ve been so happy lately and traveling has been hard.”

“Let’s sit.” Henry passed out glasses and led the way to the formal living room, the new couple taking the sofa when Henry and Elizabeth took the chairs. “So, who asked who?”

“And when did this happen?” Elizabeth jumped in to add.

Blake’s blush returned. “I asked him while we were at the vineyard. It didn’t have this massive plan, but it’d been on my mind and he turned up by surprise and I just knew.” He glanced Henry’s way. “He said he’d always come for me.” He turned to Trevor. “I realized then how much I loved him.”

“Aww.” Elizabeth smiled watching them. “What are you guys going to do to celebrate? Henry and I were rushed when we got engaged, so there were a lot of steps we didn’t do.” She squeezed his hand. “You’ll have a big fancy wedding though, right?”

“Babe. Slow down.” Henry grinned.

She was practically vibrating. “I can’t! I have to do this again.” She stood and crossed the small space, hugging Blake again before bussing a kiss on his cheek. A phone rang somewhere in the kitchen. “I’ll be right back.”

They all watched her vanish before Henry turned back to the pair. “I’m sorry.” He apologized to Trevor. “It doesn’t take much for her to start talking weddings and grandkids.” He turned to Blake. “You know what she’s like.” He finished the wine in his glass and just studied them a moment. “The high of this announcement is going to keep her going for weeks, you know.”

“I’m going to be bombarded with plan suggestions now, aren’t I?”

“Yep.” He laughed. “We’ve missed out on two formal weddings now, so she’s extra ready to get to plan one.” Elizabeth rushed back in. “Everything okay?”

“Oh, yeah. Mike B needed some information, but I don’t have to go out.” She smoothed her shirt, a habit she did when she was thinking. “Can you get flights short notice?” She pointed at Blake.

He was surprised at the question. “Always.”

“You have the next five days off. We’ll meet back up in Philly. You two go enjoy being newly engaged.”

“What? You need me!”

“I’ll be fine.” She moved to the office and started looking for something. “I can survive five days without you.” She called through the doorway.

“History says otherwise.” He called back, making Henry grin.

She made an indignant sound. “It’s five days, how bad can it get?” His only reply was raised brows. “Fine. It’ll suck. But you two will only have this time once.”

“The pens are in the left drawer.” Blake finally said as she continued searching. Drawing another laugh from Henry, a look of surprise from Trevor, and an ‘aha’ from her.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t live without you.” Was her response. She rounded the couch, this time with and envelope in her hand and whispered in Henry’s ear, he nodded. She sealed the envelope and handed it to Blake. “Don’t open it until later. It’s our engagement gift. Now, more wine?”

==

Trevor sank onto their bed with a grin on his face. “They…really like you.”

“And you.” Blake dropped down beside him. “Remember that talk we had years ago?”

“The one in the bar?”

“Yeah. You made me realize things and… When her detail dropped me off after we got back, I told her about me.” He sighed. “It felt good.”

“What was in the envelope?”

“Oh! I forgot about that.” He rolled over to fish it out of the jacket he’d tossed on a chair. “Paper… Wow. She says to pick a place and she’ll pay for a hotel or whatever.”

Trevor lifted his head. “How will she do that from the road?”

“Oh, I have a credit card.” When Trevor kept staring, he continued. “For emergencies. When we travelled… What?”

“You’re allowed to just walk into their house, a credit card?” He huffed in surprise.

“I told you they were practically my parents. I have a room there too. Well, technically it’s the guest room, but I have kept soap and stuff there for years…. And spare clothes.”

“Okay, okay.” He rolled to his side and propped his head on one hand. “Tell me something.”

“About?”

“About this other family. The kids were…loud.” He grinned. “In a good way.”

“The McCord household is a loud one, for sure. Jason is the budding anarchist.”

“Rough gig when your mom’s a government official.”

“He’s a good kid though. Well, young man, I guess. He was in football for part of a season, stopped after an injury. Off to college now. Alison is normally away in Europe for school, she’s in fashion.”

“Cool.”

“A few years ago, I went along on her college tours. It was fun to look back and remember the whole college experience.” Trevor watched his smile grow. “And Stevie. I think sometimes she’s had it the hardest over the last few years, but she found her footing and has really blossomed.”

“The look on your face when you talk about them, you don’t look like that about your family.”

Blake thought on it. “I think… for all their faults, the McCords are uncomplicated. There aren’t secret motives or anything, you know where you stand. And they’re easy to forgive when something happens.”

“Well I can see they all love you.”

“And they’ll love you too. I’m sure by the time we get back from whatever we do there’ll be a dozen messages about dinners and movie nights. Henry’ll want to go out and have drinks, depending on how much he gets prodded, he might ask while I’m on the road. He’s great though, you should go if he asks.”

“You sure?”

Blake nodded. “I, on the other hand, will be stuck on a bus with Elizabeth for nine weeks. Trapped with every question under the sun.”

“It was impressive tonight when you knew she was looking for a pen. Also, I saw what you did with the ice cream.”

“Ah.” He had been helping her bowl ice cream, when she’d served herself, he’d reached around and taken half out, depositing it in his own bowl. “She wouldn’t have slept if I hadn’t intervened.” He shook his head. “I dread to think what sort of shape she’ll be in in a week.”

==

As Blake had predicted, a week and a half after they’d returned, Trevor got a call inviting him out for drinks. He met Henry there and placed his order. “Blake said you might call.”

Henry grinned. “I wanted to get to know you. Blake kept you pretty secret. Tell me about yourself.”

“Well, not much to tell. Only child, my parents decided my choice of partners wasn’t to their taste.” He shrugged in self-depreciation. “I dove into finance and decided I could do it on my own.”

“And it looks like you have. It’s not easy doing it on your own. I have family, but college, that I had to do on my own. It’s how I ended up a fighter pilot. And, Elizabeth can relate to perhaps feeling abandoned and growing up alone, but she’ll tell that story when she’s ready.”

“I was taken a bit by surprise when Blake insisted we come over to tell you about the engagement. He never really talked about work. I mean, he talked about the work, and his coworkers, but he said there were details he left out. It was different, after being in California with his family, to see him so comfortable and relaxed at your place.”

“He joined our family when my wife became secretary. They’re close, they have a bond that just transcends… what most people think of as normal.” He took a swig of his beer. “But they’ve been through a lot together.”

“He said.”

“You’re now a part of our family too. And look, I get it that this year is going to be hard. I deployed immediately after we got married and between both our jobs, we’ve always had one or the other of us traveling. Well, except for when she taught. I’ll give you some advice- don’t hold in your feelings and let them turn into resentment when you start feeling pushed to the side. No matter how wonderful he is, Blake’s not a mind reader. And now you have my number, we can grab a beer, or you can just come over and have dinner, hang out.”

“I appreciate that.”

“And, if they pull this off, I know she really wants him to be on her staff at the White House. No doubt that’ll mean long hours. If you ever want him home, just let me know and we’ll run him off. She appreciates his dedication, but Elizabeth is a big believer in family first.”

“That’s good to know.”


	67. Wait

Henry wandered down from the private residence in search of his wife. It was long past midnight and she’d never come up for dinner or bed. Strolling through the main entrance, he was surprised to see Blake’s desk empty, the lamp turned off. Generally, the younger man had a hard and fast rule to always be in the office when Elizabeth was, a habit Henry knew had existed for years.

Leaning into the doorway, he watched his wife reading over a document, her heels had been kicked off some time ago and were left on the floor, her blazer was over the back of a chair, and her feet were up on the edge of the desk as she rocked her chair back. “Babe.” He softly greeted, so as to not startle her. “You’re down here on your own? Why didn’t you come up?”

Her eyes flicked to a point across the room and then to him with a soft smile. “Not alone, technically.”

He gestured back with a thumb. “Blake’s gone.”

Elizabeth just shook her head and then beckoned him in, her eyes looking across the room again.

Henry didn’t see anything though until he was almost beside her at the desk. Then he could see the couch that was closest to the door he’d come through. Stretched out asleep, his feet overhanging the side slightly due to being inches taller than the couch was long, was Blake.

“He was with me until about eleven thirty, sometime after that he was out.”

He chuckled. “Why didn’t you send him home?”

“He looked peaceful. I did text Trevor though and let him know so he didn’t worry.”

Henry turned from the man who’d become another son to him back to his wife, lifting her feet back to the floor before bracing his hands on the arms of her chair and leaning in for a kiss. “Well, I want you to come to bed. So decide, either wake him or leave him.” He offered his hand and pulled her up.

“Let him sleep.” She kissed him again before pulling away long enough to find a blanket hidden away and draping it over the sleeping form. Grabbing her heels, she backed out of the room with Henry and then quietly followed him upstairs.


	68. Lingering

Blake barely glanced up when Henry leaned on the frame of his office door. “Hey.” His eyes stayed on the screen in front of him.

“How’s your day?” Henry tried for casual, his hands shoved in his pockets.

“You mean aside from Elizabeth getting drunk at lunch?” He couldn’t help the curve of his lips. “Pretty average for a day around here, why?”

Henry ducked his head, debating. “Will you have any free time in a bit?”

That brought Blake’s full attention away from the screen and to his friend. “What’s up?”

He shrugged and then looked up, realizing from the look on his face alone that Blake wasn’t buying it. “I just…have a question and… I don’t know.” He huffed. “Elizabeth was just in my office.”

“I know.” His tone hinting that the statement was obvious and perhaps a tad insulting.

“She mentioned something, kinda dropped it in my lap, and I just… I feel like I missed something really major. I guess today I’m feeling a bit more sensitive to that.”

Blake looked back at the screen and then to Henry. “Give me twenty? I can come up to the residence?”

“Sounds good.” Henry nodded and then vanished.

As soon as he could, Blake made his way upstairs, knocking briefly before letting himself in and finding Henry reading a book in a chair. “Hey.”

Henry waved to a seat. “So.” He sighed. “Elizabeth and I were discussing the veterans bill and mental health and I mentioned living with PTSD.” He waved a hand as if the conversation wasn’t important. “She dropped in my lap that she still deals with triggers and still sometimes…” He trailed off a moment, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “She hasn’t mentioned it in years, but apparently she’s still suffering. I guess- I guess I’m wondering if there was something I was missing all these years that I never saw it.”

Blake sank back, considering. “I think… I think after Iran.” He pressed his lips together a moment. “I think afterward, at least for me in my position, I simply adapted to the new issues? If there was a problem once, I adapted so it wasn’t a problem in the future? It just kind of became the new normal.” He tried to think back. “Honestly, I haven’t considered it as her suffering PTSD in a long time, maybe that’s wrong.”

“It just became part of Elizabeth.” Henry summarized.

“While we were at state, it became normal for all of us- me, Jay, Daisy; even Matt and then Nadine before and Kat after, we knew the routine of this is what we do after a bad call or a bad day. This is what we do after say… a crisis somewhere. It was just the job.”

“I’m not sure I realized… I knew you did a lot, do a lot, but I never considered what everyone else did I guess.” Henry rolled that over in his mind. “So, everyone knew?”

Blake watched Henry’s face. “You’ve been beside her every step, don’t think just because you didn’t give it a name, that you missed it.”

He huffed. “Your faith in me is comforting, but I’m not so sure.”

“Henry, come on.” He gave him an exasperated look. “The fact that we are sitting in this room speaks to your awareness of her mental health.”

“I didn’t see it with my dad, with my friend today, well… I saw it with him, but I ignored what it was. I missed it.”

“Well, this is me saying to you, my friend, you don’t miss anything when it comes to Elizabeth. Honestly, I wasn’t even surprised when they tried to try her for treason.” A smirk flitted across his lips. “You two literally can’t keep secrets from one another if your lives depend on it. How she did twenty years doing CIA ops, I think I will never know.”

Henry gave a short laugh. “You’re right.”

A grin spread on Blake’s face then. “You will know if there’s a problem. And, if I ever suspect a problem, I’ll speak up, just like I’ve always agreed. We’re almost halfway through this whole public service experience.”

“Halfway?”

“Six years of State plus a year campaigning, now eight years here.”

“If she gets eight, or even four.”

Blake gave a playful groan and roll of his eyes. “She’ll get her eight.” He was going to say more, but the door opening cut him off, they both turned to see Elizabeth come in.

She halted in the doorway and looked between her husband and her assistant, humming. “Yeah, I still don’t like this.” She pointed between them, a grin playing at her lips. “This reeks of conspiring against me.”


	69. Bookend

First Day.

Blake stood outside the private residence in the White House staring at his phone. They’d agreed the day before to do this, start this, together and he found himself waiting for the clock to turn to the exact time when he was allowed to knock and go in. As he’d done for years, as soon as the time switched over, he stood straight, adjusted his blazer, and then drew in a breath. Like he had for years, he had a cup of coffee in his hand only this time instead of waiting for an elevator to open, he reached out and turned the handle of the door, stepping in. “Good morning.” He called out, smiling brightly when a moment later Elizabeth and then Henry both appeared, ready to go as well.

“Morning Blake.” Henry greeted. “Ready for day one?” He laughed as his wife made a beeline for the cup of coffee. “Blake’s custom roast on tap all the time now, you’re going to jitter your way through this job, aren’t you?”

Elizabeth grinned at Henry over the mug, her eyes twinkling with amusement. “I plan to try!” She turned back to her assistant. “I couldn’t sleep, how about you?”

“I did okay. You have everything?” He swept the room for any signs of something she might need.

“I think so. And it’s a short walk if I forget.”

“True.” He looked Henry’s way again. “Are we all ready.”

“Let’s do this.” Henry nodded, following Blake and Elizabeth out the door. They walked three abreast down the hall and then down the stairs, with Elizabeth in the middle holding Henry’s hand. Somehow it had become their default position since the election.

Normally, at the bottom of the staircase Henry would turn away from the Oval Office, but today, for the first day, he carried on beside his wife clear to her desk, placing a kiss to her lips before moving away. Already shifting into work mode, Blake was standing by the door. Henry stopped, patting him on the shoulder before repeating part of what he’d said to his wife. “Have a good day.”

“You too.” Blake nodded, watching him leave. Once it was just he and Elizabeth, he turned back and just took a moment to adjust to her at the desk. When she looked up to find him staring, she smiled and gave a nod. “Time to run the country.”

==

Last Day.

Blake jogged up the stairs to the private residence one last time. Most of the McCord’s things had already been shipped back to the farm, today was more about pomp and formality than anything. Letting himself in, he paused and thought back on eight years of his life. Eight years he never would have imagined many years ago when he walked into a Poli Sci class at UVA.

“You’re here, good.” Henry greeted. “There’s a lot of little stuff to sort out, I’m glad you could come early.”

“Of course.” In a few short hours, he wouldn’t work here anymore, his own desk had already been cleared out for the incoming assistant. “Is she ready?”

“Putting on her shoes.” Henry chuckled.

“I’m here.” Elizabeth walked out, letting out a breath. “Last walk, just like the first.” She crossed to where both stood by the door. “We did it, we survived.”

“And now we can all retire.” Blake finished. Offering his arm, he found himself grinning as Henry did the same, Elizabeth taking both as they walked down the same hall and down the same staircase they’d all traversed daily for so long. There were a few pardons to sign and then meeting with the incoming president and his wife before they would all drive together to the inauguration, this would be the last time till well past midnight, Blake realized, that there would be any amount of privacy. So he did what he'd done for years, he stepped away as husband and wife took their final steps into he Oval Office, turning his back so they could have a few moments alone. While he waited, he let his mind wander over all that had happened in their lives in the past eight years- four weddings, five new babies, two assassination attempts, one of which that came much too close for comfort, and the loss of several professional friends. There’d been uncountable numbers of sleepless nights, and state dinners.

He remembered some of the more memorable moments, the ones that brought the strongest emotions to the surface. His musings were interrupted by his name being called.

“Blake!” Henry tried again with a grin.

“Yeah.” He turned around, responding with a smile of his own. “Sorry, was just reminiscing.”

“No time for that.” He laughed. “Time to eat.” He waved at the terrace through the open doorway. “Chop chop.”

He followed; his brows knit together in confusion. “I’m not in this part.” He looked at the table, the new POTUS and FLOTUS were already seated across from Elizabeth, who laughed.

“I told you, Blake. You have been here with me since the beginning, you’re here with me until the end. Whenever that may be. And today I’m taking that to mean you get to enjoy this meal with us.” She raised her glass to him in toast. “You’ve earned it.”


	70. Retirement

Elizabeth wandered through the first floor of the farmhouse; it was good to be back after so many years away. The winter morning light was streaming through the windows, reflecting off the fresh snow outside. She was done, retired, or at least close to it; her time as president and public servant were behind her. Wandering into the kitchen, she paused at the doorway, surprised. “Morning.”

Henry sat at the small island, part of the morning paper in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, a mostly finished pastry was on a plate in front of him. There wasn’t a suit to be seen either, just her husband in worn jeans and a sweater as he glanced her way, glasses perched on his nose. “Morning, Babe. Coffee?”

She tipped her head, curious about the rest of the scene, across the island, mirroring Henry from the paper and coffee to the pastry and even the jeans and sweater, sat Blake. “Something I need to know?”

“Like what?” Henry put his paper to the side and stood to make her breakfast. As soon as the paper was down, Blake swapped it with the section he’d finished.

Elizabeth grinned. “I thought I was done waking up to Blake sitting in my house?”

Henry glanced around, looking almost surprised to see the other man there despite having been in conversation with him for the past forty-five minutes. “Oh, yeah.” He chuckled. “So, turns out the Deckers are selling their place, they’re wanting to move it quickly so they can retire to Florida and get away from this cold.” He waved vaguely in the direction of the next house up the road.

She glanced toward Blake, who seemed uninterested in the conversation, and then back to her husband. “And?” She wasn’t sure where he was going, Stevie and Dmitri had taken over the house in Georgetown for the moment, Jason was still in New York, and Alison in Europe.

“They were willing to take well below value if it was an off-market sale.”

“You bought a second house while I was asleep?”

“No.” he chuckled, bringing her her coffee. “Blake and Trevor bought it.”

She gasped in surprise, her face lighting up. “Wait, _bought_ it?”

“They had a super early appointment at the title company, hence why Blake’s here now. Trevor had to rush off to a work thing.”

Finally, Blake looked up and spoke, struggling to keep the grin off his face. “Jacob is asleep in the living room.” When she quietly squee’d, he dropped the pretense of reading and turned in his seat. “I don’t know what we’ll do with the barn or anything yet, but Trevor’s job is allowing him to work remotely most of the time, and travel is travel from anywhere. The schools are good and…” He shrugged. “I heard the neighbors aren’t too bad either.” His grin was in full bloom now. “And the commute for my work will be a cinch.”

She’d given him her blessing on the book and he’d taken one look at Mike’s ideas for her post-presidency schedule plus the sheer volume of emails and mail that still came in and declared that, if anything, she needed him now more than ever. “And you’ll bring Jake?” Her eyes lit up; he was about to start school soon.

“Early and often.” He finished off his pastry. “As well as whatever sibling he’s getting.”

Setting her mug down, she threw her arms around Henry. “You told them about the house.”

“I did.” He grinned and pressed a kiss to her lips quickly.

“You told them about the house next door to ours and not hours and hours away in another city.”

“I did.” He repeated.

“All the others ran away to live their lives, but we get to keep Blake.”

Henry laughed. “We do.”

She pulled back suddenly, Blake’s last statement clicking in her mind, whirling on her heel. “Wait, sibling?”


End file.
